Method
by GrittyRe-boot
Summary: Edited:Young stage actress Rachel Berry infiltrates an all boys prep school in disguise to prepare for her biggest role yet. But she doesn't count on falling for her cute roommate Finn. A/U
1. Prologue

**I'm starting to think my ADD is affecting my fics. This is the second story I've started before finishing Sinners, but work has been slow and my teachers are basically already in summer vacation mode, so I have nothing but time. On another note, I would love it if the show just introduced Rachel's dads already. It would be so much easier to write them into my stories if I knew more about them.**

Rachel Barbra Berry was going to be a star. That was never clearer than when she hung up the phone with the casting director of the off-Broadway revival of Yentl. It was her first starring role ever and at the incredibly young age of 16 it was even more of an accomplishment. She had worked her whole life for this, missing out on many of the things that normal girls got to do. Instead of a regular high school she was homeschooled by her fathers. Instead of going out shopping or to the movies she would go on audition after audition or rehearse tirelessly for even the smallest roles or take acting lessons, voice lessons or any lessons she needed to turn herself into the star she was meant to be. That kind of dedication came with a price. She didn't have many friends, not only because she was busy, but because her years of dedication had made her all but insufferable to be around for most people. It wasn't that she was a bad person, far from it, but she was an intense girl and a bit full of herself to boot, it made it difficult for people to take the effort to get to know her. But her loneliness would all be worth it in the end when she became the biggest star on Broadway.

"Oh my god honey we are so proud of you," Rachel's father Hiram said, hugging her tight.

"You've worked so hard for this, you deserved it baby girl," Her other father Leroy said, joining in the group hug.

"This is fantastic. My first starring role and it's one that Barbra originated… in the movie anyway," she said excitedly. "I'm going to go to my room and start memorizing my lines right away," she said.

"Honey you've had that play memorized since you were six," Leroy said.

"And rehearsals don't even start for another two months," Hiram added.

"That doesn't give me much time," she said hugging her fathers one last time before bouncing toward her room.

* * *

><p><em>Why is it people who want the truth never believe it when they hear it?<em>

_Why is it people who want the truth never believe it when they hear it?_

"Why is it… Arghh!" Rachel said collapsing backwards onto her bed. "This is hopeless, Barbra would be so ashamed."

"What are you talking about? That was perfect," Leroy said.

"It's not just about getting the lines down daddy, I have to _become_ this character. People need to believe that I'm both Yentl and Anshel and all I'm getting across is girly girl with a stupid girly voice."

"Oh honey, I thought you sounded very mannish," Hiram said.

"You're just saying that to make me feel better," she groaned.

"Rachel, there is a reason you were picked over 200 other girls," Leroy said.

"I know, because of my superior acting abilities, but it's going to take more than that to really wow the audience."

"We're starting to worry about you baby girl," Leroy said. "You've been doing nothing but practicing all weekend long. We didn't even go out to celebrate."

"Yeah, at least let us take you out to that noodle house you like," Hiram said.

"Yuet Li?" she said, her eyes wide with excitement.

"Yeah, and maybe you can invite one of your friends from the Theatre School?" Leroy suggested.

"That's okay, it's Sunday, they're probably busy, besides it's such short notice," she said. "I'll make sure to tell them all about it tomorrow." She got up from her bed and pranced toward the door.

* * *

><p>"I think the problem is that I'm not putting myself in Yentl's shoes," Rachel said before taking a bite of her bok choy. "I mean, what do I know about passing as a boy? Even my dental floss is pink."<p>

"Rachel, you're obsessing," Leroy said.

"I'm not obsessing, I'm just saying, trying to understand this character has really made me see why so many actors go method. How can I truly play a character if I don't know what it's like to be that character."

"What are you saying, you want to pretend to be a boy until rehearsals start?" Hiram said.

Suddenly a light went on in Rachel's head. She couldn't believe she hadn't thought about it until then. "Well, why not?"

"Look what you started," Leroy said to his life-partner.

"I'm serious dads, why don't I?"

"Because you're a 16 year old girl not Daniel Day-Lewis" Leroy said.

"Well, why couldn't I be Daniel Day Lewis, because I'm a girl?" Rachel said, crossing her arms.

"See, you already sound like Yentl," Hiram said.

"Yes, so there's no need to chop off your hair and start hanging out with boys all day," Leroy said.

"Well, I don't have to cut my hair, I mean they make all sorts of great wigs nowadays, and Sandy from the theatre school can show me how to do my makeup…"

"Oh my god she's really serious," Leroy said.

"I am serious daddy," Rachel said.

"Honey, if you think it will help to dress up like a boy when you take your piano lessons then I say go for it," Hiram said.

"No, you don't get it, I need to do something big, I need to go undercover where nobody knows me. If I can trick them into thinking I'm a boy then I know I'll be able to nail this role."

"How big?" Leroy said carefully.

She smiled as the wheels continued to turn in her head. "Two words daddy, McKinley Prep."

**Will Rachel's dads go along with her crazy plan? Keep reading to find out.**


	2. Daniel Day Berry

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Leroy said to his partner. "You know how Rachel can get when she feels really intensely about something, she takes it overboard."

"I want to encourage our daughter to reach for the stars, if she wants to be Daniel Day Lewis then who's to tell her she can't?" Hiram said.

"I know, I know I'm just worried for her is all."

"Dad? Daddy?" Rachel said from behind the wall, "Are you ready to witness my stunning transformation from Rachel Berry, future star of stage and screen to Daniel Berry, average everyday _male_ high school student?"

"Come out honey, we're ready," Hiram said as Leroy remained silent.

"Ta da!" she said popping out from behind the wall. The transformation truly was stunning, aside from being quite a bit smaller than any high school boy they'd seen in recent memory she truly did look like a boy, and kind of a handsome boy at that.

"Oh my stars, you look amazing," Hiram said, getting up to give his young daughter a onceover. "Leroy, we have a son."

"Wow, I have to admit that Sandy knows what he's doing," Leroy said. "Where did he get that wig, it looks so real."

"I know right?" she said excitedly. "Sandy says I can even swim in it. But you don't think I'm being vain do you? I mean would it show more commitment if a scheduled an appointment at Supercuts?"

"I'm sorry but even if I did allow you to butcher your beautiful hair it wouldn't be at no Supercuts. I'm sure Barbra would understand." Leroy said.

"I just can't get over it, you're like a completely different person," Hiram said.

"Well that's the point isn't it?" Rachel said, shrugging. "Now come on, I don't want to be late for enrollment," she said, linking arms with both her fathers and starting toward the door. "Oh, right, I'm supposed to be a boy," she continued, unlinking her arms and walking ahead of them.

* * *

><p>Headmaster Figgins looked Rachel over, holding her file in his hands.<p>

"It says here you were previously homeschooled," Figgins said. "Why the change?"

"Well, our… _son_, is going to be going to college before we know it. I think it's important that he gain some of the much needed social skills that he's missed out on in the last 16 years," Hiram said convincingly enough.

"And yet you choose an all boys school, thanks dads," Rachel said faux-sullenly in her adopted boy voice.

"A lot of our new students express concern about the lack of a female student body, but you can rest assured that McKinley could not be more involved with our sister school McKinley West. All of our clubs and organizations are coed and every month we have our school wide mixer just to make sure we remain acquainted with female students."

"Sweet," Rachel said, getting an unwitting smile out of her fathers. "Any of them hot?"

"Now, let's not get carried away… _son_," Leroy said.

"So let's talk about living arrangements," Headmaster Figgins said.

"That's easy, Daniel will be requiring a private dorm," Hiram said.

"Unfortunately all of our private dorms are taken, but we do have a quite spacious dual dorm available. One of our students recently lost his roommate to a tragic nasal spray addiction."

"He died?" Hiram said, concerned.

"Rehab," Figgins corrected.

"I'm sorry, it really needs to be a private room," Leroy said. "We can't stress that enough."

"Dads, I'm fine sharing a room, I mean, as long as it's not with some geek, am I right?"

"Son, can we talk to you outside for a moment," Leroy said, getting up and dragging his "son" behind him.

"What's the big deal," Rachel whispered in her normal voice as they exited the office.

"You are not sharing a room with a boy, that's where we draw the line." Leroy said.

"I think I'm going to have to agree with your father," Hiram said.

"Come on you guys, I can't make the commute everyday, besides it's not like this guy is going to try anything, you know unless he's gay."

"What if he is gay?" Leroy said. "There's at least a ten percent chance."

"That doesn't matter either because Daniel is straight. Can you guys just trust me? Please I really want this," Rachel pleaded.

Leroy sighed, "I don't know Rachel."

"Maybe we should try meeting the kid," Hiram said.

"Yes, that's a great idea, we'll meet him and if nothing seems weird then you can at least think about it right?" Rachel said. "I'm going back in."

"Rachel wait," Leroy said unsuccessfully. "Who's raising who here?"

Leroy and Hiram reentered the room reluctantly.

"Have you come to a decision?" Figgins said.

"We'd like to meet Daniel's potential roommate before we decide anything," Leroy said.

"Not a problem," Figgins said, pressing the intercom. "Finn Hudson, you're needed in the Headmaster's office, Finn Hudson to the Headmaster's office."

It took him a good ten minutes to get there, Rachel wasn't quite sure what to expect. He could be anyone, he could be a creepy loser like the jewfro boy who lived in her building and periodically stole their mail. Or even worse, he could be totally gorgeous, what if her roommate was a complete, heartthrob that she wasn't allowed to have?

"You wanted to see me headmaster," The tall, russet haired, amber eyed boy now entering the room said. It was definitely the second scenario.

"Ah Finn, we may have found you a new roommate. This is Daniel Berry, he's a Junior."

"Hey Daniel," Finn said, smiling an adorable dimpled smile at her and reaching out to shake her hand.

"H-hi," Rachel said, actively trying not to blush and twirl her hair like an idiot. "How's it going?"

"You're not gay are you?" Leroy said.

"Dad!" Rachel seethed.

"Um, no. I'm totally straight," Finn said confusedly.

"So Finn, tell us about yourself, do you have a girlfriend?"Leroy said.

Rachel literally wanted to die.

"I'm single," Finn said, still confused. "I'm a junior, I play football, oh and I'm in the glee club."

"This school has a glee club?" She said excitedly.

"Yeah, we're really good too, you should come check it out, Mr. Schue is the best."

"Sounds awesome," she beamed.

"Can you sing at all?" Finn said.

"Um, I'm okay," she said modestly.

"Just okay? Our boy here is brilliant," Hiram said, seeming to forget that _Rachel _was a brilliant singer, while _Daniel_ was likely to freak everyone out with his curiously girly singing voice, she had practiced her speaking voice until she had all but perfected it, but her singing was a whole other story.

"Well, practice is tomorrow after school, you should swing by," Finn said.

"Sure, I'll check it out," she said, trying not to smile too sweetly at him.

"Look, I'd love to stick around and chat but I have football so… I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Sure roomie," She said rather lamely as they shook hands goodbye.

"I don't like him," Leroy said after Finn left the room.

"Come on babe he seemed like a perfectly nice kid," Hiram said.

"Yeah but did you see the way she was looking at him?" Leroy blurted, forgetting that Figgins was still in the room. Luckily he didn't seem to think anything of it.

"So, have you made your decision?" Figgins said.

"We'll discuss it more tonight and call you first thing tomorrow," Hiram said.

Her parents were right to worry. Finn may have been straight, but after meeting him Daniel wasn't so sure.

**I'm not going to tell you two much about what's going to happen but let's just say that Finniel will be about the closest I ever get to writing slash.**


	3. Casa de Hudson

It had taken almost a straight hour of pleading, rationalizing and sucking up, but Rachel had finally gotten her way. Armed with three bottles of pepper spray and a very long lecture from her dads, Rachel was ready to move in to casa de Hudson, and even though she knew that nothing would happen, she couldn't help but feel a little warm at the thought of it. It was 7 am when she arrived only to find that Finn was in the gym. By the time he had arrived to the room she only had a few precious moments to get acquainted with her gorgeous new roommate and finish getting her things sorted out. She'd planned it to a T, making sure her cologne, men's deodorant, boxers and tube socks were in plain sight while her tampons and lady schick were well hidden.

"So, Finn," Rachel said in her low timbre as she put away her clothes. The voice wasn't crudely exaggerated like in gender switch comedies she had seen over the years where the he-shes sounded like Barry White and the she-hes sounded like Minnie Mouse. It sounded natural for a boy of her size, just a bit lower, slower and gravellier than her normal voice. "What's your story?"

"Well, me and my step-brother Kurt are both here on scholarship, me athletic, him academic. You'll meet him today, he's in glee too."

"Sounds cool, so are you just a singer or do you play an instrument?"

"I play drums," he said.

"I love drummers!" She said a little bit more excitedly than she had planned. "Well, girl drummers, you know, like Meg White."

"Wow, I thought I was the only one who had the hots for Meg White," Finn said. "So, do you need any help with that?" Finn continued as he noticed Daniel straining to reach the top shelf.

"If you could," she said, dropping the Duffel bag back to her feet.

"Here you go," Finn said, effortlessly placing the duffel on the top shelf.

"Thanks," she said, trying not to blush as she noticed the way his muscles flexed as he put away the duffel.

"Well, I've told you about me, what about you?" Finn said.

"Well, I was homeschooled until now, most of my time was committed to studying the performing arts, song, dance, theatre, piano. My fathers won't rest until I'm the next Matthew Broderick, I have two gay dads you see, and to be honest the appeal of eventual fame isn't exactly lost on me, if they encourage me it's only because they know how much I want it for myself. Let's see, what else. I'm not big into sports but I do appreciate the occasional basketball game with my Father Leroy, he's the sports fan of the two. As a kid he tried to get me acclimated to athletics as well as performing, his excuse was that it would help my artistic pursuits in the long run but I saw through it." She was surprised that so much of that was actually the truth, she'd worked on a backstory before arriving, but for some reason she didn't feel right lying about herself to Finn, at least not entirely. But now that she had let it spill what she was all about she would have to stick with it. She was still Rachel, just a boy version.

"Wow, you know you kind of talk like my professors," Finn said.

"Oh, sorry," she said bashfully.

"Don't be, I think it's cool, it's kind of like watching Frasier."

"Thanks," she said, trying not to blush.

"It's also cool that you're so into performing, we could really use a guy like you on the club, you're still coming right?"

"Yeah, definitely," she said, still a little wary about how her voice would come across, she had practiced in her room for hours the night before and after awhile she decided that she sounded passable if not as breathtaking as usual. "So, I hope you're cool with me invading your space, I'll try not to cramp your style too much."

"Don't worry about it," Finn said. "I actually prefer having a roommate. "We don't get a TV in here so it's nice having someone to talk to."

"Well, I actually brought some DVDs if you ever wanted to watch them on my laptop."

"Oh yeah," Finn said, brightening, "What've you got?"

Rachel unzipped her DVD case, showing off the collection she brought along. At home she'd roamed Leroy's collection for some manlier fare, but her beloved musicals still made the cut.

"Funny Girl, Singing in the Rain, Grease, this is an interesting collection," Finn said. "But I guess since you're so into this stuff…"

"Yeah, that and my last girlfriend was big on musicals, she kind of got me into them even more, I didn't even see half of these until we started dating."

"Oh yeah, what was her name?"

"Rachel," Rachel said, preserving at least that part of the backstory.

"I actually really like this one, Finn said, holding up a copy of Moulin Rouge, "Kurt Made me watch it one time during movie night."

"Yeah, it's one of my favorites," she said.

"Oh, and Hairspray?" Finn said taking it out. "This one is awesome."

"I know, I mean naturally the show is better but that's always the case," Rachel said.

"Hmm, you have Transformers," He said clearly a bit surprised.

"Yeah, well, you have to take a break from musicals sometime."

"You know, Megan Fox is seriously hot but she's kind of annoying," Finn said starting to read the back.

"I know right?" Rachel said a little too excitedly again.

"I actually liked the Australian chick way more," Finn said.

"I actually liked Josh Duhamel," she thought to herself. "Yeah, she was super hot," she said instead.

"Well thanks for the free entertainment." Finn said replacing the DVD and zipping the case.

"No problem," she said.

"Class starts in ten, we should probably get a move on, what's your first period."

"AP trig," Rachel said casually.

"Wow," Finn said. "Remind me to cheat off of your papers if we ever get a class together."

As Daniel put away his DVD case and began to head toward the door, Finn couldn't help but notice the way he moved, it was oddly graceful and assured, sort of like his step-brother Kurt, but with even more authority. And he was short, possibly the shortest guy he had ever seen up close, but he had a confidence about him that made him seem a lot taller. It was sort of impressive, not to mention intimidating.

* * *

><p>Blaine Anderson and Kurt Hummel walked the hallway together, as was their usual routine before and after their lunch period. As much as Kurt liked Blaine he always seemed to be into someone else. When he and Finn met Blaine for the first time Blaine developed a crush on Finn instantly, but of course Kurt couldn't hold it against him, he himself had had a crush on Finn before their parents married. Luckily Blaine's crush was short-lived, once he realized that Finn was as straight as could be, and the three became best friends. Still Kurt wanted more and every time he talked about how hot some new guy was it was like a dagger in his heart.<p>

"Oh my god, did you see the new guy?" Blaine said, putting "here we go again" thoughts in Kurt's lovestruck head.

"Which new guy?" Kurt said calmly.

"He's Finn's new roommate," Blaine said. "He's gorgeous, he looks like a tall Tom Cruise."

"Yeah, I saw him," Kurt said bitterly. "He does look like a tall Tom Cruise."

"I wonder if he's gay," Blaine said. "I mean his tan is a little too perfect for a straight guy don't you think?"

"Yeah, if only we could know right away if people were gay are not," Kurt said dourly.

"Well, I aim to find out," Blaine said straightening his tie and walking ahead of Kurt, hoping to get first dibs on the new guy.

**Rachel/Daniel likes Finn, Blaine likes Rachel/Daniel, and Kurt Likes Blaine, this is bound to get complicated.**


	4. The Other Half

**The Rachel/Daniel thing is about as annoying to write as I'm sure it is to read so I'm taking Emma's advice and I'm just going to refer to her as Rachel from now on, except for in certain contexts of course. Thanks again for the suggestion Emma.**

Lunchtime couldn't have come sooner, she didn't have a single class with Finn. And even though they shared a room she couldn't wait until nighttime to see him again. She spotted him easily, he was the tallest in the group of boys he stood with. A pale blue-eyed guy with perfectly coiffed hair, an Asian guy with strong features and a kind smile, a blindingly blonde guy with Angelina Jolie lips, A broad mohawked guy with a smarmy grin, a bespectacled wheelchair bound guy with shaggy hair, and a cute vaguely Eurasian looking guy with thick wavy hair. They were all so cute, even the wheelchair kid had a certain appeal about him, but even still her eyes went directly to Finn. She didn't know what it was about him, but just looking at his face made her feel warm inside. She wondered if she had the same effect on him, but then she realized how stupid it was to even consider that. It was the first time in years on the Broadway that she ever found herself wishing that a guy she liked _was_ gay.

"Hey Daniel," Finn called out to her. She smiled and waved a little, hoping her wave wasn't too girly before walking up to join them.

"'sup Finn," she said coolly.

"I wanted to introduce you to the guys," Finn said. This is Artie, Puck, Blaine, Sam, Mike, and my step brother Kurt. Guys, this is Daniel"

"It's great to meet you," Blaine said brightly, extending his hand for her to shake. "So is it just Daniel or do you have a nickname."

She hadn't thought about a nickname. "Um… Dan is fine, or Danny. My friends at the theatre school sometimes call me Method but I don't really like that."

"Are you a Rapper?" Artie the boy in the wheelchair said.

"No, I was named after Daniel Day Lewis," She said, impressed by how well the lies were rolling out.

"So I hear you're big into performing," Blaine said. "That's cool, I'm I performer myself. Actually we all are."

"So you're the glee club," She said.

"Well, half the glee club," Finn said. "You'll meet the girls today."

Her heart sank a little, of course there would be girls. "Sounds awesome," she said.

"Wait until you meet Santana Lopez, talk about smokin'" Puck said.

"Yeah, if you're into the cold bitchy types," Finn said.

"You're just pissed because she blew you off last year dude," Mike said.

"I am not," Finn said unconvincingly.

"Yeah, we all know that Quinn's the one who has his balls in her pocket," Puck said.

"Quinn?" Rachel asked

"She's his ex," Sam said.

"Is she pretty?" Rachel asked trying to sound more curious than accusatory.

"More than pretty dude," Sam said. "She makes Cameron Diaz look like Camryn Manheim, one look at her and you'll understand why Finn here is so whipped."

Rachel didn't know where the sudden jealousy was coming from, she knew coming in not to expect a romance, but she couldn't help it. If only Finn knew that there was a cute girl underneath the short hair and sweater vest.

"I'm not whipped, for the thousandth time it's not like that between us anymore,"

"I don't know why dude, how did you manage to let that one go?" Puck said.

"I don't know, it probably had something to do with her fucking a college guy during spring break, now can you drop it? You guys are the worst welcoming committee ever," Finn said.

"Sorry dude," Puck said. "My manners suck, so you're thinking about joining glee right?"

"According to her dads, he's an awesome singer," Finn said.

"Wait, Dads?" Kurt Chimed in.

"Yes, I have two gay fathers," Rachel said.

"Sweet, I have two gay teammates," Puck said tactlessly slinging his arm over Kurt and Blaine's respective shoulders.

"Real nice Puck," Kurt said icily pushing his hand off.

"So are you two an item?" Rachel said.

"Why does everyone always assume that?" Blaine said.

"I know, it's ridiculous," Kurt said a little less convincingly.

"Sorry, didn't mean to jump to any false conclusions," She said.

"It's cool," Blaine said. "But no, me and Kurt are just friends. I'm totally single." He said looking her in the eye with a coy smirk.

Rachel couldn't believe it Blaine was actually flirting with her, well, flirting with Daniel. This was bound to turn very interesting.

"So," Rachel said nervously. "A lot of hotties in glee huh?" Rachel said, hoping to get Daniel's straightness out in the open as subtly as possible.

"It's the whole reason I joined," Puck said. "Maybe we can hook you up with Brittany, she's hot _and_ she loves short guys."

"I'm Average Height," Artie said. "Being in a wheelchair doesn't make me short." Artie said a little bitterly, clearly the wounds were still fresh.

"Let's just focus on the singing," Finn said, "You all know the quickest way to a glee girl's heart is by ripping a scorching rock ballad a new one. So have you given any thought to what you're going to sing?"

Rachel had actually given a lot of thought to what she was going to sing. She knew that anything by Bon Jovi or Springsteen would just be trying too hard, while any of the originally female sung Broadway standards she kept in her back pocket would raise eyebrows in the wrong way, so she compromised and decided on the manliest Broadway tune she could think of. "Definitely," She said.

* * *

><p>She wasn't sure why, but she was nervous. She was never nervous, but she was never a boy before either, she didn't know what to expect or even if she'd be any good. She had to move and sing like a boy without anyone being any the wiser, and she honestly wasn't sure if she could pull it off so soon, but if she could then she had no doubt in her mind that she would be the best yentl ever.<p>

Upon entering the room and scanning the group of students she immediately deduced which girl was Quinn, blonde, gorgeous, cool confident and perfect. Just the idea that he had dated that girl was enough to shame her a little. Even as a girl she could never compete with that.

"Hi, you must be Daniel Berry," A pleasant looking, curly haired man in what looked like his early thirties said walking up to her and snapping her out of her Quinn induced stupor. "Finn told me you were coming."

"You must be Mister Schue," Rachel said, shaking his hand.

"So are you ready to sing for us?" He said.

"Absolutely," she said, feigning confidence.

"Listen up guys!" Mr. Schuester said, getting the attention of the rest of the glee club. "I'd like to introduce you to Daniel Berry, he's a new student here and he's going to sing a song for us today, give it up for him everyone."

As the students clapped Rachel cleared her throat and tried to get her nerves in check long enough to get out her opening announcement.

"Hi, I'm Daniel Berry and today I'll be singing Brotherhood of Man from the hit Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." At the announcement Kurt clapped enthusiastically while Sam whispered "Harry Potter's in that" over to an exotic looking beauty who Rachel assumed was Santana. The guys were right, glee was full of hotties.

She took a deep breath as the piano began to play and finally opened her mouth to sing.

_Now, you may join the Elks, my friend,__  
><em>_And I may join the Shriners;__  
><em>_And other men may carry cards__  
><em>_As members of the Diners._

She noticed that the majority of the group was smiling and engaged, she was doing alright afterall.

_Still others wear a golden key__  
><em>_Or small Greek letter pin;__  
><em>_But I have learned there's one great club__  
><em>_That all of us are in._

_There is a Brotherhood of Man,__  
><em>_A Benevolent Brotherhood of Man,__  
><em>_A noble tie that binds__  
><em>_All human hearts and minds__  
><em>_Into one Brotherhood of Man.__  
><em>

As the song began to go up tempo she began to get a little more into it, raising her voice and moving her feet and hoping that she was convincing.

_Your lifelong membership is free.__  
><em>_Keep agivin' each brother all you can.__  
><em>_Oh aren't you proud to be__  
><em>_In that fraternity,__  
><em>_The great big Brotherhood of Man?_

And before she knew it the others began to stand up and dance along and sing back-up. She couldn't believe she had actually encouraged an impromptu sing along.

_So, Wally, before you consider firing everybody, remember this:_

_One man may seem incompetent,__  
><em>_Another not make sense,__  
><em>_While others look like quite a waste__  
><em>_Of company expense._

_They need a brother's leadership,__  
><em>_So please don't do them in.__  
><em>_Remember mediocrity__  
><em>_Is not a mortal sin._

_They're in the Brotherhood of Man,__  
><em>_Dedicated to giving all we can.__  
><em>_Oh, aren't you proud to be__  
><em>_In that fraternity,__  
><em>_The great big Brotherhood of Man?_

She noticed Finn dancing, and boy was he awful, and boy was it adorable, especially the way he smiled, completely unaware of how bad he was, but Mike the cute Asian, was phenomenal.

_You, you got me;__  
><em>_Me, I got you, you!_

_Oh, that noble feeling,__  
><em>_Feels like bells are pealing,__  
><em>_Down with double-dealing,__  
><em>_Oh Brother!_

_You, you got me;__  
><em>_Me, I got you, you!_

_Your lifelong membership is free.__  
><em>_Keep agivin' each brother all you can.__  
><em>_Oh aren't you proud to be__  
><em>_In that fraternity,__  
><em>_The great big Brotherhood of Man?_

As she finished they all clapped and Rachel beamed, the practice was worth it, she had completely won them over.

"That was amazing!" Will said, clapping.

"Yeah, that was awesome dude," Finn said punching her shoulder lightly. She really wished he would stop calling her dude. "You're like a Backstreet Boy but classier, that and I don't want to punch you."

"Now you were a little shaky toward the end but I'm sure that Finn would be more than willing to help you out with that," Will said, causing Rachel's face to grow hot, nobody had ever criticized her singing before, but she tried not to take it too personally. "He's your roommate right?"

"Sure, I'd love to help you out, you're really good, I bet with some practice you'd be better than me."

"Well, I'd love to hear you sing sometime," Rachel said, probably coming off a little more flirtatiously than she had meant to.

"Yeah, definitely," Finn said.


	5. Dreams

Rachel couldn't help glancing at him every few seconds. She wondered what he was so focused on, her homework load had been rather hefty, but she had managed to finish by six, but now it was closing in on 7:30 and Finn still seemed to be powering through, turning pages frantically, erasing and rewriting and randomly groaning in frustration.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" she finally said.

He sighed, "It's just stupid physics, I hate my teacher. I'm sorry I'm not as smart as Sir Nikola Einstein or whoever but I happen to have this thing called a life. I'm on the last part and I'm totally stuck."

"Well, let's see what we're looking at here," she said getting up to help him. "Do you mind," she said hovering over him, relieved that he didn't recoil at the closeness, and god did he smell good.

"Not at all," he said shrugging, she took the paper away and looked it over. She noticed right off the bat that his handwriting was surprisingly neat, even if the frequent erasing had mussed the paper a bit.

"Well you're on the right track, you just forgot to add a one here. This formula is very unforgiving."

She handed the paper back to him, proud of herself.

"God, thank you, I would have been here all night." He said, reworking the formula.

"No problem," she said, sitting back down on the bed.

"So what did you think of glee practice?" He said as he finished, haphazardly dropping his pencil and shutting his book.

"It was really fun actually," She said.

"I know, isn't it great?" he said, looking adorably enthusiastic.

"You know, you wouldn't think a guy like you would be into that kind of thing," She said.

"Yeah, that's kind of what everybody thinks, I didn't want to join at first but Mr. Schue heard me singing while I was scraping gum in afterschool detention and he convinced me to join, and I've been kind of hooked ever since."

"I can see why, performing is addictive isn't it?" She said.

"Yeah, it's like a drug only you don't have to hide it under your floorboards… you know, not that I ever did that."

"I wasn't judging," She said putting her hands up.

"It's just one of my moms old boyfriends… it was kind of a dark time and I think I peed in a cup for him once when I was six…" He rambled. "So how about one of those movies?" he continued, desperately trying to change the subject.

"I have a better idea," she said. "I didn't get to hear you sing in glee club."

"You want me to sing, now?"

"You know, unless you're too much of a pansy."

"Nobody calls me a pansy," Finn said in a very Marty McFly kind of way before standing up to sing.

_I've heard there was a secret chord_  
><em>That David played, and it pleased the Lord<em>  
><em>But you don't really care for music, do you?<em>  
><em>It goes like this<em>  
><em>The fourth, the fifth<em>  
><em>The minor fall, the major lift<em>  
><em>The baffled king composing Hallelujah<em>  
><em>Hallelujah<em>  
><em>Hallelujah<em>  
><em>Hallelujah<em>  
><em>Hallelujah<em>

_Your faith was strong but you needed proof_  
><em>You saw her bathing on the roof<em>  
><em>Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you<em>  
><em>She tied you to a kitchen chair<em>  
><em>She broke your throne, and she cut your hair<em>  
><em>And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah<em>

_Baby I have been here before_  
><em>I know this room, I've walked this floor<em>  
><em>I used to live alone before I knew you.<em>  
><em>I've seen your flag on the marble arch<em>  
><em>Love is not a victory march<em>  
><em>It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah<em>

_Hallelujah, Hallelujah_  
><em>Hallelujah, Hallelujah<em>

Rachel didn't think she ever wanted to rip a guy's clothes off more than she did at that moment, his voice wasn't perfect but that was kind of what she loved about it, it was so raw and gravelly and sexy, and she really needed to talk before things started to get weird.

"That was, ahem, that was really…really good, um… dude," she said awkwardly.

"Well I'm a lot better than I was when I started. There's no way I could have pulled that off last year," He said.

"So is that what you want to do, sing?" She said as Finn lied back on his bed and starting tossing a football in the air.

"I don't know, I haven't really thought about it. I mean I love it and everything but I don't think I'd love it the same way if it were my bread and butter you know."

"So, what do you want to do for said bread and butter?"

"Well I always thought it would be cool to be like a firefighter or a cop, but not one of those lame traffic cops who write tickets and stuff, it would be so awesome to do something that really helped people, like saved their lives."

Rachel smiled. "Yeah, I could see that about you."

"You know, it's just something I think about from time to time," he said, still tossing the football.

"So you'll be a singing cop," she said brightly.

"Yeah, like the guy from the village people, but without all of the undertones."

"Exactly," She said giggling a little and immediately noting that her laugh still sounded a little girly.

"And when I'm not singing and doing cop stuff I think it would be pretty sweet to coach peewee football, I've always liked kids, you know when I'm not afraid of them," He said sounding a bit pensive. "So what about you, I know you want to do Broadway and all that, but what's like your dream part?"

"Elphapa in Wicked," she thought. "Fiyero in wicked," She said instead.

"I actually saw that play, I think that would be perfect for you," he said.

"Well, they'll probably make me Boq," She joked.

"Come on, you're not that short," he lied, and badly at that.

She shrugged, "My size is simply a fact of life, I've learned to embrace it."

"Kind of like I learned to embrace my dancing," He said.

So he did know how bad he was, somehow that made him seem even cuter. "Yeah, I saw that, those were some sweet moves back there," she said sarcastically.

"Don't be a dick," he said, gently tossing the football to her which she caught with a bit more effort than she would have liked.

"I'm just teasing, I actually thought it was cute."

Finn knitted his brow at her confusedly.

"I mean, um. I'm sure the girls all think that," she said, covering her slip-up.

"Yeah well, Quinn used to say I danced like a giraffe being electrocuted."

"Wow, she sounds sweet," Rachel said tossing the football back to him.

He shrugged. "She had her moments, but in the end she just…"

"Had intercourse with a college guy," she said, finishing his sentence and reminding herself that she had to learn how to swear if she was going to continue passing as a boy.

"Yep, well, it is what it is, I've moved on and so has she."

"That's a good thing, there's plenty of fish in the sea right?"

"Exactly," he agreed.

"So, what's your idea of like the perfect woman?" she said. She knew she needed to stop giving Finn reasons to think she was interested in his romantic status, but she couldn't help herself.

"Well, and don't tell anybody this, but one time when I was in soho with Kurt I met Tina Fey and I've kind of been… thinking about her a little bit since then."

Rachel couldn't help but appreciate Finn's taste in women.

"I've just always had a thing for hot smart girls, I don't know what it is but when they start using those words I can't understand it's kind of a turn on."

"Yeah, I totally agree," she said trying not to blush.

"Maybe that's why I went for Quinn, I mean she was on the honor roll."

Of course she was, Rachel thought bitterly to herself.

"Well I hope you find your Tina Fey," Rachel said. "I've already found my Finn Hudson," she thought to herself.

"So, did you want to practice your singing?" Finn said. "It's the least I can do after you helped me out with my physics homework."

"Sure," Rachel said. "I could get into that."

* * *

><p>Kurt always liked to visit Blaine's room after his finished his homework at the end of the day. First of all his roommate Trevor was a farter, second, Blaine was almost as big of a gossip as Kurt was, even if he wouldn't admit it. And after glee practice Kurt definitely had some gossip to unburden himself with.<p>

"Okay, what is up with the new kid?" Kurt said flopping down onto Blaine's bed, or doing the closest thing to flopping that a guy as delicate as him could manage.

"I know, I'm totally thinking gay right?" Blaine said.

"No, it's more than that. There's something off about him, I just can't figure it out," Kurt said. "He's weird."

"Well I think he's kind of cool, and clearly talented, and seriously hot. I really don't think there's anything going on there besides some underlying boy-lust."

"Would you cut it out with the wishful thinking Blaine," Kurt said.

"So if he's not gay than what do you think is off about him?" Blaine said. "Please indulge me."

"I don't know," Kurt said. "But I aim to find out."

**Sorry for all of the talkiness, but I want to develop Finn and Boy-Rachel's relationship before I get to the fun stuff (and let me assure you, things are gonna get crazy), here's hoping you liked the dialogue.**

**The Song was Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen as covered by Rufus Wainwright**


	6. The Top Gun Effect

Two weeks had passed since Rachel first set foot at McKinley prep as Daniel, and at that point she legitimately believed that she was starting to go native. It was more than just her newfound constant utterance of the word dude, she was finally starting to get used to her new identity. It got to the point where she began to forget that she was a girl in boy's clothes from time to time, where she was truly surprised when she showered and felt boobs under her hands. And the guys were comfortable with her too, so comfortable that they often talked about disgusting things with no qualms about it whatsoever, and brushed it off as her being a gentleman when she didn't join in. Sure they made fun of her for being a pussy, but she had no reason to believe that they thought there was something not right with her, at least nobody but Kurt seemed to think that.

He seemed awfully suspicious of her, constantly asking questions, narrowing his eyes when he wasn't completely satisfied with the answers and generally acting weird around her, whereas Blaine checked her out all the time and flirted shamelessly, even when she stressed the fact that Daniel was straight he didn't seem to get the hint. And the worst thing was she knew exactly why they acted so weird around her, goddamn fucking Finn. Whenever she was around he made her feel like a dumb schoolgirl and she knew that it was starting to take its toll on her phony identity. If only she could stop being so maddeningly into him. When she was with him it was the only time she was constantly aware that she was a girl and it made it hard to truly sink into the role the way she wanted to. It wasn't his fault of course, she just wished that she didn't feel that way, especially when she knew that nothing was going to happen.

It was hard though, not only was he sweet and adorable and easy to talk to, but she soon learned that they had amazing musical chemistry as well, which had always been important to her. When they sang Under Pressure in the room the day before she literally had to will herself not to attack his lips with hers, and today as they sang 1901 she knew she was thisclose to losing it completely, why was singing with him so fun and sexy and freeing? She hated how much she loved it.

_It's twenty seconds 'til the last call__  
><em>_Calling hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey__  
><em>_Lie down, you know it's easy__  
><em>_Like we did it all the summer long_

_And I'll be anything you ask and more__  
><em>_Going hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey__  
><em>_It's not a miracle we needed__  
><em>_No, I wouldn't let you think so_

_Folded, folded, folded, folded__  
><em>_Folded, folded, folded, folded__  
><em>_Folded, folded, folded, folded__  
><em>_Folded, folded, folded, folded_

"Wow, you're already getting so much better," Finn said.

"Well, you're a good teacher Finn," she said, once again having to actively stop herself from flirting. "And to think of the thousands my dads spent on singing lessons."

"Well, Mr. Schue taught me that having perfect technique means nothing when there's no emotion behind it."

"You don't think there's any emotion in my voice," she said.

"No, I didn't mean it that way," he said frantically. "It's just when I heard you sing the first time you were really good, you just seemed a little detached, like you weren't entirely comfortable in your own skin you know?"

"You have no idea," she said.

"But you're awesome dude, don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise."

"Thanks," she said smiling a little.

"Well, I think I'm going to take off, the gym closes in an hour," he said, grabbing his towel.

"Okay, I'll be here."

"You know, you can come with if you want, it's not just for student athletes, it's open to everyone."

"Um, okay," she said. "Let me just throw my gym clothes on and I'll meet you down there.

* * *

><p>Kurt and Blaine liked going to the gym on Fridays, hardly anyone ever went on that day, they were too busy getting their weekends started. And as they made the trek towards it they found themselves having yet another conversation about the mysterious Daniel Berry<p>

"So are you still investigating our boy Daniel," Blaine said with condescending quote signs around the word investigating.

"Yeah and the more I think about it the more I think you're right after all. He's totally on the down low."

"I told you," Blaine said. "Do you think I should ask him out?"

Kurt groaned, why was Blaine so hellbent on asking everyone out but him? "Yeah if you really like being shot down," Kurt said coldly.

"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?" Blaine said.

"Isn't it obvious, he's totally into Finn."

"You know, I kind of felt that too, but come on, Finn's straight why would he go for Daniel?"

"Look, just because you and Daniel are both gay doesn't mean he's going to automatically fall for _you_, trust me, I know from experience."

"What experience would that be?" Blaine said.

"God you can be so clueless sometimes," Kurt said annoyed, but before Blaine could comment further, they both felt a strong hand clap them on the back.

"What are you fabulous fellas up to?" Puck said joining them on their trek to the gym.

"Would you stop calling us fabulous, the way you say it it just sounds offensive," Kurt said.

"Guess what, Brittany invited us to her parents lake house upstate tomorrow, it's going to be beyond epic dude."

"She invited us?" Blaine said suspiciously.

"Well she's still trying to make one of you her gay best friend, she's on this whole Sex and the City kick, either way dude just be happy you've joined the ranks of the cool kids."

"I'll take a look at my schedule," Kurt said coolly.

"So not that I care but what were you two squawking about?" Puck said.

"Kurt thinks that Daniel is into Finn," Blaine said.

"Who Rocket Dan? No way that guy is all about the pussy."

"Don't be gross" Kurt said, "And I know that as a terminally straight male your gaydar sucks out loud, but trust me this guy is beyond fabulous."

"Yeah right," Puck scoffed

"There's something else weird about him too, I just can't put my finger on it," Kurt said.

"I bet you wish you could put more than your finger on it," Puck scoffed. "That's why you're going around telling lies."

"No, that's Blaine's area, Daniel, not my type," Kurt said. "He's like four feet tall, I'm not into guys who are physically hilarious."

"You can be such an ass," Blaine said teasingly.

* * *

><p>Rachel knew that there was no way she was getting any exercise, she was usually an avid health nut but not when Finn was next to her on the treadmill, running and panting and making her want to lick the sweat from his body. She faced forward and turned the MPH up, trying to keep it together.<p>

"Okay, I think that's it for today," he said slowing the machine down. He exhaled sharply and climbed off of the machine, taking a seat on the bench.

"Everything okay over there?" Rachel said, noticing the way he was rubbing his neck.

"It's nothing, my neck just bothers me from time to time. No big deal."

And just then she said probably the stupidest thing she could have come up with, "Well, did you want me to see what I can do?" Goddamn her unstoppable hormones.

"Excuse me," Finn said.

"My grandma, she always makes me rub her back when I visit her in Florida. Luckily the emotional trauma came with some adeptness at shoulder massage," she said with some awkwardness.

Finn glanced back and forth, presumably to make sure that nobody was watching before uttering a nervous, "Okay… um sure, I guess."

She traipsed up to him and tentatively placed both hands on his shoulders before slowly beginning to knead out the knots in his neck and shoulders.

"Oh my god that feels freaking amazing," Finn said, clearly surprised. She couldn't help but feel a little proud when he started to sigh softly and shut his eyes. "Jesus, a little to the left."

"How is that?" she said.

"Mmm, that's perfect," he said softly, as if in a trance as he let his head tilt forward a little. He knew he shouldn't have said yes, and he shouldn't have let himself enjoy the feeling of him rubbing his neck that much, he wasn't even sure why he had agreed to it, but he was glad that he did. His touch was firm, yet gentle, effortlessly easing away his stress until he all but forgot where he was and his thoughts drifted to the last few weeks with his admittedly awesome roommate. He had lots of male friends, but none were quite like him, he didn't bust his balls when he talked about sensitive stuff like singing and wanting to work with kids, and he was one of the nicest, most helpful guys he had ever met, and he was scarily smart and he talked as if he owned every room he set foot in. It creeped him out a little that his mind would go to that place but he once found himself thinking that Daniel had all of the qualities that he'd find attractive in a girl, but the second he thought it he immediately made his mind think of something, anything else. And he wondered now after just getting finished having confusing foreign thoughts about his roommate he was letting the same roommate give him a shoulder rub.

"You know what, I'm good man, thanks," Finn said, standing up.

"Um, wassup dude," A familiar voice said.

Finn quickly turned his head toward the entrance, his blood going icy as he saw Puck, Kurt and Blaine standing in the doorway.

"Um, are we interrupting anything?" Kurt said.

"Yeah like a rehearsal for the stage version of Top Gun?" Puck joked.

"Um, no I was just finishing up here," Finn said.

"Yeah we were just about to um, go actually," Rachel said nervously.

"Um, before you do you might want to take care of Finn Jr. there," Blaine said.

Finn looked down, only taking a split second to realize what exactly Blaine was talking about. Embarrassed he frantically pulled the front of his shirt down over his massive boner.

Although he could barely contain his laughter long enough to speak, Puck finally managed to strangle out something about a party at Brittany's on Saturday, and in their humiliation all Finn and Rachel could say was a halfhearted, simultaneous yes.

**And yes, it will only get more awkward from here. Song is 1901 from one of my favorite bands, Phoenix.**


	7. Truth or Dare

**Three updates in one day, that has to be some kind of record, for me anyway. And I changed the last chapter a little, I don't think I made it clear enough that Rachel/Daniel and her magic fingers was the thing that gave Finn the erection, not his Tina Fey fantasy.**

She didn't think that two people had ever remained silent for quite that long, they hadn't talked much in the dorm, they watched Across the Universe (her choice) and Star Trek (his choice) and he made sure to mention how hot Zoe Saldana was at least five times, and as much as she agreed she knew he would have limited it to two mentions had he not gotten an erection from her rubbing his shoulders just a few hours before. And now they were on the train to Lake Placid, both awkwardly staring out the window, even though there wasn't much to stare at. And just to make sure he avoided any awkward small talk Finn had his headphones securely fastened. She had to admit that she was strangely flattered by the effect she seemed to have on him, but she would rather be able to talk to him than know that she gave a particularly arousing shoulder rub.

"Finn," she finally said. "Finn," she repeated a little louder.

"Yeah?" he said, removing his earphones.

"So should I be excited? About the party I mean?"

"Yeah, Brittany throws the best parties, but watch yourself. There's going to be a pretty overwhelming amount of drunk girls all over you."

"Well it's not like I'm going to take advantage or anything," she said, meaning it more than he knew.

"Actually they're the one's who typically try to take advantage of you, I remember locking myself in the bathroom at her last party, a drunk Santana is, for lack of a better word… terrifying."

She smirked a little, he was so innocent she just wanted to hug him. "So, you're not still weird about yesterday are you?" She said.

"No," he said in a bit of a higher pitch than she was used to. "I mean if you're not weird about it."

"No, I mean, it was a little weird but I mean I'm sure it wasn't me, I mean your mind probably wandered a bit and then you know… you know what, let's just change the subject."

"Yeah," Finn said, replacing his earphones. She knew she never should have said anything.

* * *

><p>They arrived to Brittany's party at 8 o'clock and although the start time was 7:30 it didn't seem to be especially lively.<p>

"Is this the right house?" Rachel said.

"Yeah, I've been here like 3 other times already, I wonder what's going on."

"We have a problem guys," Santana said, stalking out with a pissed off look on her face and the rest of the glee club following behind.

"What happened?" Finn said. "Is this everybody?"

"Megan O'Dowd decided to throw a party the same night at the last minute, according to the flyers Snoop Dogg is going to be there, there's no way we were going to compete with that," Santana said.

"Megan O'Dowd has hated me ever since I spread that rumor that she has a wooden leg, I mean in my defense there has to be a reason she always wears those tights," Brittany said.

"It's the dress code, Brittany you wear them too," Santana said.

"Yeah, but I already know that _I_ don't have a wooden leg," Brittany said with what was her idea of rationality.

"Okay so why don't we just Crash Megan's party?" Finn suggested.

"The last time somebody tried to crash one of her parties they had to bring a cherry picker to untie the kid from the top of a redwood," Mike said.

"Look this isn't the end of the world, I mean the glee clubs here right, and it's not like we can leave until the trains run tomorrow morning," Mercedes, one of the fellow glee girls said.

" Mercedes is right, We can still have Fun. I have an idea, we can play Cranium!" Rachel said, letting some of her inherent lameness seep through without meaning to.

"Okay who invited him," Santana said.

"Unless it's strip Cranium I think you might want to keep throwing out ideas," Puck said.

"How about truth or dare," Mike's girlfriend Tina said.

"Lame," Santana said.

"No limitations truth or dare," Tina continued.

"Now that's something I can work with, Puck said."

"I actually kinda love cranium," Finn said under his breath and to no one in particular.

* * *

><p>After an hour of no limitations truth or dare, five of them were wasted, all of them were at least buzzed, three of them were almost completely naked, one of them was totally naked (Sam, naturally), four of the girls had made out with each other, there was a stack of weird objects that some of them had borrowed from the neighbors, including a condom Sam had fetched while nude, Kurt had spent the last twenty minutes with Puck's tightie whities stretched over his face and Tina spent the last fifteen touching tongues with Mike. Finn had gotten the least of it, the worst he had to do was lick Brittany's armpit and although the taste of Degree wasn't exactly pleasant, overall he felt pretty lucky, and Brittany seemed to enjoy it. But it was his turn again and the dares were getting weirder and weirder. He didn't have a single idea what to expect, she just hoped that the coin landed on heads this time. Especially since it was Puck's turn to flip, he was notoriously cruel when it came to no limitations truth or dare.<p>

"Tails, that means dare!" Mercedes said, clearly still pretty sloshed.

"Okay," Puck said, looking at Rachel slyly, then turning his attention to Finn, giving him a look he didn't care for, just what did Puck have up his sleeve? "I Dare you to kiss… Daniel."

Finn looked at him, dumbstruck, he knew that Puck wasn't going to let him get away with the day before. "No way, I'm not kissing a gu—

"Okay," Rachel blurted, causing Finn to snap his attention toward her. "I mean, we're all adults here right? And I'm secure in my sexuality. If it's okay with Finn it's okay with me."

"But it's not okay with me," Finn said.

"Come on Finn," Puck said. "He's not going to bite."

"Then you kiss him," Finn said. Rachel wasn't sure why but she was actually a little hurt by that.

"Look if you're too scared to go through with it," Rachel said.

"You're acting like you want me to kiss you," Finn said.

"Oh boy do I ever," she thought to herself. "Not at all," she said instead, but I've never been one to back out of a dare. Besides, my dads are gay, this sort of thing doesn't faze me in the slightest."

"I think you're being very immature about this Finn," Quinn said slyly. "Besides, I kissed Santana."

"Yeah but you're girls, girls kiss each other all the time, there's a whole song about it," Finn said.

"Dude, it's just a game," Puck said.

Finn groaned deeply, "Fine, one second, mouth closed," he finally agreed, causing Rachel's face to go a bit red.

"Heck yeah, hot guy on guy action," Tina said finally having detached herself from her boyfriend. Finn simply rolled his eyes.

"Five seconds," Puck said.

"Three," Finn argued.

Fine," Puck said.

Finn turned to Daniel, wondering how he would possibly go through with it. He looked at Daniel's mouth, and as much as he hated to admit it to himself, it did look rather kissable, red and plump and satiny. "Okay, you can do this," he said under his breath before finally leaning in to kiss him, and as their lips touched something strange happened. Finn's face grew hot and his palms began to sweat, and he felt an odd tingle running down his spine and across his scalp and in other, unmentionable places. And he lost control over his hands and his mouth and his mind went into a daze and his eyes went from being wide open to fluttering closed. It was official, he was kissing a guy, and he didn't hate it, in fact it felt sort of right, so right that he couldn't help but open his mouth a little and let Daniel slip his tongue in and as he did he couldn't control the urge to caress it a little with his own and let Daniel run his fingers through his hair and lean into him a little more than he should have.

"Um, dude, it's been way longer than three seconds," at the sound of Puck's voice Finn snapped out of it and pushed Daniel away quickly, looking back and forth at the faces of his very weirded out group of friends.

"Wow, that was pretty hot," Tina said.

"Okay," Rachel said, clearing her throat, smoothing her hair and adjusting her tie nervously while Finn just sat there, clearly still flummoxed. "Who's turn is it?"

**Looks like Blaine isn't the only one who's gay for Daniel, keep reading**

Retur


	8. I Kissed a Boy

**We're at awkward level orange in this chapter, be prepared.**

It was Tuesday and Finn hadn't spoken much to anyone. And he tried not to think about the kiss, about the fact that Daniel's lips were as sweet and ripe as a red pomegranate and that he felt it a little in his crotch. He'd never had feelings for a boy before, except for friendship, but there was something very strange about this particular boy. He couldn't stop thinking about him, or trying not to think about him, and it freaked him out. It freaked him out so much that he pretended to sleep the entire two hour train ride home, he spent his lunch hours in the computer lab and had stayed in the student union until they kicked him out every night since the party just to avoid going back to the room, thanking his lucky stars that Daniel was always asleep when he got back. He wasn't just avoiding Daniel though, he avoided everyone who attended the party. He wasn't sure what he was going to do when glee practice rolled around but he figured he'd cross that rickety bridge when he came to it.

"Hey Finn, can we talk?" Kurt said, sitting next to him in the library.

"No, it's the library, you're supposed to be quiet," Finn said. He knew that one of them would track him down eventually, but that didn't make it any less painful.

"Look, I'm not judging you, nobody's judging you. But I saw that kiss, we all did, and if there's something you need to get off your chest…"

"There isn't!" Finn snapped.

"Shh!" went the librarian.

"Very cliché of her," Kurt said under his breath. "Look Finn, I've been through this exact situation and it's never easy."

"I'm not gay Kurt," Finn said quietly but firmly.

"I know, but did you ever consider that you might be bi? According to Blaine it's a real thing."

"Can you just drop it? Please?"

"Okay, you can talk about it when you're ready. I just wanted to say watch out for Daniel."

"Trust me he's the last person I want to talk to right now."

"It's just that I think he's hiding something, I don't know what but it's definitely something."

"Could we not talk about Daniel," Finn said.

"Okay, I'm going. Just remember, if you ever want to talk I'm here." Kurt put his hand on Finn's shoulder and squeezed a little before getting up to go.

Finn sat there for a few minutes, trying to read the Arthur Ashe Biography he'd selected and finding himself stuck on the same sentence until finally he groaned in frustration, slammed the book shut and shot up from his chair, needing to splash some cold water on his face.

* * *

><p>She had to talk to him, she knew it was best to give him his space, which was why she pretended to be asleep when he came back to the dorm and left in the morning, but at that point it had been three days, and she couldn't fight it anymore. She had kissed boys before, mostly for plays, but kissing Finn was a new experience entirely. She felt his kiss everywhere, and as soon as he pushed her away her body ached for more. As crazy as it was, she knew he felt something too, and even though he seemed thoroughly dedicated to avoiding her she knew that she needed to confront him about it. And as she spotted him going into the boy's bathroom she knew that it was her chance.<p>

"Finn, we need to talk," Rachel said forcefully going in after him, locking the door and cornering him completely.

"You, stay away from me," Finn seethed.

"Look, about the party."

"Nothing happened," he snapped, seeming more scared than angry. "It was just a stupid game and it didn't mean anything okay."

"Oh yeah?" She said, crossing her arms. "Then why did you shove your tongue in my mouth?"

Finn shifted his eyes back and forth, making sure nobody else was around. "That's a crock, you put _your_ tongue in _my_ mouth," he whispered sharply.

"I didn't hear you protesting."

"Look, you're a cool guy and everything, but I really don't think we should hang out anymore," Finn said.

"Finn, I'm your roommate," She said.

"And today I'm going to talk to Figgins about switching rooms."

"You know why I think you're so anxious to get rid of me?" She said, inching toward him.

"Look you know I don't have any problem with your lifestyle, I accept it. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm not like you," He said. "I'm… I'm not gay."

"And what makes you think I'm gay?"

"Dude, you put your tongue in my mouth!" Finn repeated.

"And I think you liked it a little bit," she said confidently.

"I didn't… I mean, you… I can't," Finn rambled.

"You know what I think? I think the reason you're being such a jerk right now is because you're attracted to me and you just don't know what to do about it," she continued, making Finn more and more uncomfortable with every word.

"Could you please just leave me alone?"

"Sure, if you can look me in the eye and tell me straight out that you don't want to kiss me again."

He tried not to look him in the eye, but found it impossible, as Daniel looked at him unflinchingly it had almost a hypnotic effect, it was as if he was staring right through him, picking apart his defenses one by one until before Finn knew it he was cupping The other boy's face and his lips were on his again, and Daniel's hands were grasping Finn's shirt at his hips, trying not to lose his balance. And he kissed him so deeply and longingly that he knew that there was no going back, and Finn's heart felt as if it would leap out of his chest it was beating so damn hard, and they backed clumsily into the nearest stall as they kissed, Finn's hand pressed against the back wall. 1,000 thoughts shot through Finn's head as he continued to make out with his tiny roommate, kind of liking the way he tangled his fingers in Finn's messy hair as he caressed Daniel's neck with kisses, baffled by how soft his skin was, and how good he smelled and just how much he was enjoying this and just how much he wanted him. Finn shut the stall door with his foot and continued to hungrily kiss and nibble at the warm, silky skin of his neck as Daniel began to run his hands under Finn's shirt making his skin tingle at the contact.

"Oh Finn," She panted before he attacked her lips again and jerked her small body into his broad one almost angrily, and she moved her hands from under his shirt and cupped his face, deepening the kiss even more. She was so transfixed by him that she didn't remember to disguise her voice as she called out his name, and he was so into it that he didn't seem to notice. But as mindblowingly amazing as it was to be with him that way she knew it wouldn't last, sooner or later he would remember that she was supposed to be a boy and he was supposed to be straight.

"What the fuck is happening!" Finn said pushing her away forcefully. Unfortunately it was sooner. "You, why the hell are you so soft?" He continued, looking angry and confused and afraid.

"Finn, I'm going to tell you something, and you have to promise not to freak out okay?" She knew it was time, it wasn't fair for her to keep doing this to him.

"You mean even more than I'm freaking out right now? Not sure if that's possible," He said, shaking his head. "Wait, why did your voice change?"

"I'm going to show you something," And at that she pulled off her sweater vest, loosened her tie and began to unbutton her shirt, and although Finn grimaced a little he didn't stop her as she opened the shirt, revealing the bandage holding down the modest swell of her breasts.

"Did you get injured?" Finn said confusedly.

"Not exactly," and with that she began unwrapping the bandage, feeling like it took a lot longer than she would have liked. She kept unwrapping it, not breaking eye contact until she unwrapped it completely and dropped it to the floor. "This is what I wanted to show you," She finally said, pointing to her breasts, small and covered by her bra but still very present.

"Oh my god I kissed a guy with boobs," Finn said running his hands over his head exasperatedly. God he was slow, thank god for that ass, she thought to herself.

"I'm not a guy Finn," she said hesitantly. "I'm an actress."

**I assure you, Finn's not gay or bi in this story. Although there certainly wouldn't be anything wrong with him if he were, he's simply so drawn to Rachel that he's even attracted to her when she's a boy, although I'm sure you figured that out on your own. How's Finn going to react now that he knows the truth? Stay tuned to find out.**


	9. Dirty Secret

**We're about halfway there. I'm on a freaking roll!**

He didn't talk to her on the whole way back to the room as he dragged her behind him in a huff. It was probably the longest short walk she had ever taken. And now she was sitting on her bed while he was pacing back and forth, clearly still trying to wrap his mind around everything that had happened in the last ten minutes.

"Can you please say something?" Rachel said.

Finally he stopped, and faced her. "So, you're a girl?" he finally said.

"Yes," she said, nodding.

"And you have been this whole time?"

"Yes," she repeated, somewhat confused by his question.

"This must be what Kurt thought you were hiding," Finn said, putting it together. "I was thinking criminal record not… boobs."

"I'm so embarrassed, everything has just gotten so out of control," she said.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" he said, seeming calmer than she expected.

"It was on a need to know basis, I didn't tell anyone," she said. "Finn I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"Why would you pretend to be a boy? I don't get it," he said.

"It was for the role, Yentl, have you heard of it? 19th century Jewish Girl poses as a boy in the name of religious education. It's my first starring role ever and I really wanted to nail it. But I was having trouble envisioning myself in the characters shoes so I decided to go method."

"Like that Lewis guy you were talking about? The one who steals milkshakes?" Finn said.

"Yes, I got a disguise and convinced my fathers to enroll me in this school. I thought it would be a good acting exercise, I never meant to hurt anyone… especially not you Finn."

"So you're sure you're a girl?" Finn said again.

"Unless there's something my fathers aren't telling me," she said.

He let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank god," he said, sinking down onto the bed beside her and rubbing his forehead.

"So you're not mad?"

"At you? Of course, I mean you lied to me for almost three weeks straight."

"Finn it wasn't personal," She said pleadingly. "I thought I could do this without making any attachments, that the importance of this role would help me keep my focus. But then you came along and… you're really hot."

Finn smirked a little. "Thanks, but I'm still mad at you."

"Yeah, I guess that whole making you question your sexuality thing was bad."

"Speaking of that there's something I need to do," He said before cupping the back of her head and pressing his lips to hers, she was surprised by the kiss, but she didn't reject it.

"What was that for?" she said as their lips parted.

"Don't read too much into it. I just wanted to see if that felt the same now that I know. I just had to be sure," he said.

She smiled. "Did it feel the same?"

"Definitely," he said, clearly relieved.

"It wouldn't have been that horrible if you were gay would it?" She said.

"Well no, I mean I love Kurt and everything but thinking you know yourself so well only to suddenly feel something completely different, it's just kind of scary."

"I really am sorry Finn," she said putting her hand on his shoulder, not entirely sure if it was welcome.

"Hey it's okay, I'll get over it. And at least now you can tell everybody the truth and I won't have to worry about Kurt giving me anymore interventions."

Rachel looked forward, conflicted.

"You are going to tell them the truth right?" Finn continued.

"The thing is, rehearsals start in a little over a month and I really don't think I feel secure enough in this role to pull it off, I mean Kurt is suspicious of me, you were attracted to me," Rachel said pleadingly. "Yentl is supposed to be just as comfortable as a boy as she is as a girl, if not more so, and I just don't think I'm there yet."

"But all of my friends think we're gay," Finn said.

"Look, if you want me to tell them the truth I will, I owe you that much. But I'm asking you as a friend for more time, and in May when I'm ready to start rehearsals I promise I'll tell everyone the truth."

"Daniel I can't… Wait, what's your real name anyway?"

"Rachel," she said.

"Like the ex-girlfriend," Finn said as a statement rather than a question.

"Exactly."

"So was anything you told me the truth?" Finn said.

"Pretty much everything I told you was the truth, except I'm not really attracted to Meg White, although she does seem like a lovely person."

"And god, I told you all those things," Finn said.

"If anything that only made me like you more," Rachel said.

Finn gave her a warm look and brushed the wig hair out of her eyes. She blushed a little as he studied her face, wondering what he was thinking as his amber eyes burned into her, "You really are a girl," he said after a few moments this time not as a question.

"I really am," she said.

"Okay, here's what going to go down," Finn said. "I'll keep your secret on two conditions."

"Which are?" she said.

"You're going to have to learn how to do this better," Finn said.

"Naturally," she agreed. "Can you help me?"

"Help you be a guy?" He said, a little taken aback.

"Well yeah, if somebody's going to know my secret I might as well get something out of it."

"Okay, I guess I can give you some pointers, but it's going to take a lot of damage control to undo the lake house incident."

"I'll get right on that," she said. "What's the second condition?"

"You go out with me, on Saturday, as yourself."

She smiled at him, beyond happy that he was being so cool about this. "I would love to," she said.

"Good," he said. "You know it's actually sort of cool, having a dirty secret, usually I'm the last to know everything."

"Well, I wouldn't call it a dirty secret," she said.

"Hey, you lied to me, I can call it whatever I want," he said.

"Fair enough," she said.

"Alright, we're late for class," he said. "But this has been, really… weird."

"Yeah," she said as he put his blazer back on and headed for the door. "Tell me about it."

**Finn's gotta date with the real Rachel! Whatever will she do with her hair? Keep reading.**


	10. First Date

**There may be a break in quick updating after this, the rest of the week is going to be pretty busy for me. But don't worry, I didn't leave it on a cliffhanger. And the next one should be good and long... not to mention citrusy ;)**

Rachel noticed something upon removing her wig for her date with Finn, long hair made her nose look smaller. It had been so long since she'd primped for anything, let alone a date with the boy of her dreams that she couldn't help but relish it a little, paying a hairdresser 100 dollars to make her look as fabulous as possible seemed beyond worth it for Finn, not to mention the fact that she could hardly use the communal bathroom at McKinley prep for that purpose. But the favorite part of her glammed-up date look was the pink dress, she didn't bring any girl clothes with her so she had to buy a new one with high-heeled sandals to match. She liked the way the lacy bodice subtly accented her boobs and the short skirt swung around her shapely legs, she blushed at the thought of Finn seeing her that way. They had agreed to meet at the restaurant, thinking the fact that they lived together would ruin the element of surprise a bit, not to mention the fact that there weren't supposed to be girls in the dorm. Luckily the bathroom at Macy's proved to be a rather functional dressing room. She took one last look in the mirror, smiled and grabbed her backpack, growing more excited by the second.

* * *

><p>"Where are you going all dressed up?" Puck said as he crossed paths with Finn in the grand foyer.<p>

"I have a date," he said simply.

"With a girl?" Puck said dickishly.

"Yes, with a girl. God are you guys ever going to let the lake house thing go?" Finn said.

"I'm sorry it's just I didn't think you would forget your true love that fast."

"Look, we both had a little too much to drink, and what happened happened, could you just try to be mature about it?"

"Have you met me?" Puck said.

"Goodbye Puck," Finn said, stalking out of there without another word.

All along the six block walk to the restaurant his heart and mind raced a mile a minute. There were so many questions, what would she look like? Would things be too awkward at that point for them to have any fun? Would anybody see them? Would they recognize her? He tried to get his wandering thoughts in check. In spite of everything he really liked this girl, she was the first girl he had a real connection with in as long as he could remember, and once he kissed her all he could think about was how much he wanted to do it again, he couldn't even manage to stay mad at her for lying. Finally he reached the restaurant. He knew that she would meet him there, but he had no idea what to expect, he didn't even know if he would recognize her all dolled up.

"Finn?" at the sound of her voice he turned around, his breath hitching in his throat at the sight of her. He had a feeling that she'd be attractive but this was almost too much, it was amazing just how little that sweater vest did for her body, or how much that wig did for her stunning dark hair, curled to perfection and flowing down her shoulders.

"Wow… you're… pretty," he said stupidly.

"You sound shocked," she said, blushing.

"No I mean you make a good looking guy and everything but this, you're kind of seriously hot."

"Well, it's been awhile since I've done the girl thing, I have to say I missed it."

"Oh, I brought you a thing," he said opening his coat and reaching into the pocket of it.

"What is this?" she said taking the thin silver whistle from him. "You brought me a rape whistle?"

"Trust me you're going to need it," he said.

Rachel backed away a little, not entirely sure what he meant by that.

"Oh no, don't misunderstand me," he said frantically. "You'll see what I'm talking about later."

"Oh okay," she said, putting the silver chain around her neck. "Shall we?" she said, taking his arm.

* * *

><p>"Everything looks so good," Rachel said sipping her cucumber lemonade.<p>

"The grilled shrimp is awesome here," Finn said

"Oh," Rachel said blushing a little. "I'm actually a vegan," she said sheepishly.

"Really?" he said. "Is that why you never eat the cafeteria food?"

"I didn't say anything because I didn't think veganism was very manly."

"Well, that guy from Zombieland is a vegan and he's kind of a badass," Finn said. "Besides, it's nice that you care about animals."

Rachel smiled and reached for her hair, tucking it behind her ear flirtatiously, happy to have something there to tuck.

"So, are you sure you're not still mad at me for lying, I mean I feel like I should make it up to you somehow," she said.

"You'll make it up to me when you tell everybody the truth in May, until then I'm just going to have to deal with the gay cracks from Puck."

"Sorry about that," she said.

"It's okay, he kind of did that a lot before anyway."

"Still, I think it's only fair that I pay for dinner, whatever you want is on me," she said.

"If I say no are you going to keep pushing it until I crack?" Finn said.

"That is my way," she admitted.

"Okay then in that case I accept," Finn said. "But I'm paying for the next place."

"What's the next place?" Rachel said.

"You'll see," he said.

"Are you ready to order?" said the waiter coming by.

"That depends," Rachel said. "Is the sweet potato soup make with chicken stock or vegetable broth?"

"Vegetable broth," the waiter said.

"Well I'll have that with a side of zucchini fritters please," Rachel said.

"I'll have the Portobello burger with steak fries," Finn said.

"Very good choices, I'll be right back to refill your drinks" The waiter said before taking their menus.

"I was thinking about something you said," Finn started. "About wanting to go method for the role."

"What about it?" Rachel said.

"Well, is that the only reason you wanted to come here?" Finn asked carefully. "For the play?"

Her face grew a little warm at the question, she never thought she would have to talk about that with anyone.

"Well, no," she admitted.

"Why?"

"The truth is I kind of wanted to see what it was like," she said.

"Being a boy?" Finn said confusedly.

"No, coming to a real school, being around kids my own age, having friends."

"You don't have any friends?"

"I have competition," Rachel said. "The girls I meet at the theatre school and on auditions are always competing for the same parts and working toward the same goals, and when you're the most talented person and happen to know it things can get difficult, friendwise."

"How so?"

"Well when I got the part of Margot in the Diary of Anne Frank last year this girl Stacey shaved one of my eyebrows off when I dozed off during lunch. Luckily most of it grew back."

"That sucks," Finn said.

"It will all be worth it though, when I win my first Tony at the age of twenty-one with my stunning run as the title character in Stephen Sondheim's 'Barbra.'"

"Is that a real play?"

"Well no, but if he got any of my letters I'm sure it will be before long," she said, making Finn laugh.

"This is nice," Finn said. "Getting to know the real you."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Definitely."

* * *

><p>She was surprised by how easy it was, walking hand and hand with Finn toward some mysterious destination, the streetlights casting a romantic glow. It was pushing nine and their curfew was at eleven, making Rachel wish she had more time with him, especially as they got closer to the place. As she began to hear music in the distance she had an idea of what Finn's plan was. Finally as they turned the corner she saw it.<p>

"You're taking me to a karaoke bar?" She said.

"Well it's not really a bar, more like a crowded coffee shop with singing," He said "But, I got to see the real Rachel, now I want to hear her."

Rachel didn't respond with words, instead she stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him. He hadn't expected her to kiss him until the end of the night, but now that she was he made a mental note to take her to many karaoke places in the future as he kissed her, finally touching her thick, long flow of hair and thinking god was it soft.

"Come on Finn," she said excitedly, taking his hand and leading him through the front door.

"Okay, this place is sort of chaotic so if you want to get on stage you have to get their attention," Finn said.

"Don't these places usually have sign-up sheets?" Rachel said.

"Where's the fun in that?" Finn said. "Now when this guy finishes and they call for the next performer you blow the whistle as hard as you can."

"Okay she said," Reaching for the whistle.

"That was Robbie D with Love Hurts!" said the Emcee. "Let's give it up for her!" The crowd clapped enthusiastically even though he was frankly sort of awful. "Now do we have any other superstars in the audience who want to come up here and show us what you got?" With that Rachel blew the whistle four times fast and loud. "Whoa, looks like we've got a winner!" The emcee said pointing to Rachel.

"Yay, they called me Finn!" She said excitedly.

"Well get up there," Finn said.

She got up from her chair and shoved through the crowd to get to the stage, taking her place next to the emcee.

"What's your name beautiful?" The Emcee said.

"My name is Rachel Barbra Berry," She said confidently into the mic.

"And what will you be singing for us tonight?"

"I will be singing Modern Love by David Bowie," she said.

"Awesome, awesome choice, Kind of a hard song though, do you think you can handle it?" The emcee said.

"Believe me, I can handle it," she said.

"Okay, take it away Rachel!" He said.

As the music began to play Rachel moved her hips to the beat and winked at Finn once before she began to sing.

_I know when to go out_  
><em>And when to stay in<em>  
><em>Get things done<em>

_I catch a paper boy_  
><em>But things don't really change<em>  
><em>I'm standing in the wind<em>  
><em>But I never wave bye-bye<em>

_But I try_  
><em>I try<em>

_There's no sign of life_  
><em>It's just the power to charm<em>  
><em>I'm lying in the rain<em>  
><em>But I never wave bye-bye<em>

_But I try_  
><em>I try<em>

_Never gonna fall for_  
><em>Modern Love walks beside me<em>  
><em>Modern Love walks on by<em>  
><em>Modern Love gets me to the Church on Time<em>  
><em>Church on Time terrifies me<em>  
><em>Church on Time makes me party<em>  
><em>Church on Time puts my trust in God and Man<em>  
><em>God and Man no confessions<em>  
><em>God and Man no religion<em>  
><em>God and Man don't believe<em>  
><em>In Modern Love<em>

As she finished the applause was thunderous, it almost seemed louder and more enthusiastic than the applause that the average Broadway audience provided and as she looked at Finn, who looked positively in awe, she couldn't help but think it almost felt just as good.

"Okay, I think I'm going to close up early, because I don't think anybody wants to follow that," The emcee said as Rachel proudly descended the stage.

"Okay, let me get this straight," Finn said as he met her offstage. "_I_ have been giving _you_ singing lessons."

"And you've been doing a wonderful job," she said.

"That was so awesome!" He said, pulling her in for a hug. "Did you hear yourself? I mean my god," he said still dumbstruck.

"That was fun," Rachel said giddily. "Let's do it again!"

* * *

><p>They managed to keep their hands off each other after Rachel changed back into her boy clothes and walked back to the dorm with Finn. They didn't need anyone to catch them together that way again. Which was why they took separate entrances and Rachel made sure to go to the room three minutes before Finn, but he couldn't deny it, he wanted to maul her the entire time and the feeling was definitely mutual, that couldn't have been clearer than the moment Rachel attacked him at the door, grabbing him by the collar and smashing her greedy lips into his. It wasn't the traditional first date kiss, it was filled with so much passion and need that they were both kind of afraid that they would dissovle into each other.<p>

"Oh, Daniel," Finn sighed between kisses. "I mean Rachel, sorry, Rachel." he corrected frantically.

"That's okay," she giggled. "Thank you for a lovely evening," she continued, panting as she reluctantly pulled her mouth from his.

"We should do it again sometime," he said, his voice muffled as he kissed her neck.

"So you're going to call right?" she said before pressing her lips to his again.

"Yeah, whatever," he joked going in for one more long, scorching kiss.

"Goodnight Finn."

"Goodnight Rachel."

**Finn has met the real Rachel and he seems to rather like her, if only it could stay that simple. Keep reading and reviewing folks.**


	11. Naughty

**All things considered this update is still pretty fast, thank god for long lines at the DMV. I am using some Quotes from Yentl the Movie here since I've never actually seen the play and I don't know how different they actually are. I tried to look up some play quotes online but I couldn't find any so just go with it please. Oh and by the way how many times have you went on hulu and rewatched all of the Finchel scenes from last night? I've personally lost count.**

**One week later**

Finn Hudson was the last thing Rachel had ever expected to come from this acting exercise, but there he was, completely in the know about who she was and somehow not the least bit weird about it, if anything she felt he got a bit of a thrill from sneaking around the last week, holding her hand under the lunch table, pulling her into the bathroom to make out in between classes, passing notes in glee club. But he was more than inconspicuous about all of it, she was sure that nobody had forgotten about the Lake House and they were probably constantly talking behind their backs, but they hadn't given them many new reasons to believe that there was anything strange about their relationship. They didn't acknowledge each other too much in from of their friends but they didn't completely ignore each other either.

Rachel had also taken some of Finn's tips about appearing more natural in guy form. The first issue he brought up was the fact that as Daniel Rachel never tried flirting with any of the girls. "What if one of them says they want to date me?" Rachel said. To which he answered "no girl really wants to date a guy who's shorter than they are, the point is to show that you're interested, you'll probably make the friend zone at best. Also avoid Brittany." He also taught her how to swear, nothing overly filthy or off-putting just a good casual "damn" here and "hell" there. She had gotten surprisingly good at it in a short amount of time and could hold her own pretty decently in an expletive peppered conversation. Also sweaty shoulder massages in drag were officially forbidden, but that was only outside of the room. In their dorm things were a little different.

Running lines with Finn was considerably more fun than doing it with Jesse St. James at the theatre school, for one Finn didn't constantly provide commentary applying to his own performance, and two she got to do it as he laid back on his bed and she straddled his lap in only a sexy pair of boxer shorts and her button down, her hair free and flowing.

"Would you stop grabbing me?" Rachel said reciting the lines by heart

"What?" Finn read from the play

"You're always grabbing me," she continued.

"No I'm not," and at that line he playfully squeezed her bare thigh, a mischievous smile on his face.

"Would you cut it out Finn?" Rachel said breaking character. "I need to practice."

"Can't you take a break?"

Rachel bit the tip of her finger in contemplation, "Well, okay." She said, taking the book from him and tossing it to the side before lowering herself onto him, capturing his lips with hers. He ran his strong hands over her body, squeezing a little as he lowered them from the small of her back to the firm curve of her ass, and she moved her delicate fingers along the length of his neck, tilting his chin up to deepen the long kiss that they shared. It was a regular thing for them at that point, they hadn't done anything overly sexual, but as awesome as the making out was they both wondered just how long it would take for that to stop being enough. She wanted him like mad, and he was a teenaged boy, something had to give.

"What are you doing," she giggled, separating her mouth from his as he began to seductively slide his hands beneath the front waistband of her boxers.

"Sorry," Finn said, "I didn't mean to—

"No , it's okay it's just, you kind of surprised me, nobody's ever…"

"Nobody's ever what?" Finn said knitting his brow.

Rachel shifted her eyes downward and moved herself off of Finn's midsection, sitting next to him and bringing her knees up to her chest.

"Rachel, I'm gonna take a shot in the dark, here… are you a…"

"Kind of," Rachel said guessing the next word. "What about you?"

"I've only ever done it one other time," He admitted.

"With Quinn?" she guessed.

"Actually with Santana… it's sort of complicated."

"God, the glee club is a rather incestuous group isn't it?" she said.

"What does incestuous mean? Is that bad?" Finn said.

She shook her head and scoffed a little, "I don't get it Finn, why me? I mean nobody would ever mistake Quinn or Santana for boys."

"I don't know," Finn said shrugging, "there's just something about you," he said sweetly grazing her thigh with his knuckles.

"But I lied to you," she said.

"Yeah and Quinn cheated on me and Santana used me, nobody's perfect Rach, at least you lied for something you care about."

Rachel leaned in to kiss him, "You are too sweet for words do you know that?"

"Well I think it's cool that you're a virgin, if I had to do it all over again I definitely would have waited. I actually considered crying in the shower after it was over."

"Thank you Finn," she said, giggling a little without meaning to.

"Besides, I'm sure it's not from lack of opportunities, you're really pretty, and talented and smart I'm sure somebody's tried to get into your pants by now."

Rachel shifted her eyes nervously, thinking of something to say to that.

"No way," Finn said, looking genuinely surprised.

She blushed a little. "Well, you know how I said I didn't have any friends? That also kind of counts for ones of the amorous variety. I think my intensity tends to scare off most guys."

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Don't be, I knew at a very young age that I would have to make the decision between love and the stage, and it's a decision that's kept me going through all of the lonely Saturdays."

"Yeah but you're sixteen, most people don't make that sort of choice until after college."

"Well, I'm not most people."

"Yeah, I've noticed," he said, smiling his charming half smile at her. "But still, think about all of the stuff you'd be missing out on, even that Rent Chick is Married to that Rent dude."

"That knowledge courtesy of Kurt?" Rachel said.

"Yeah," he said, stroking her hand gently.

"If it counts, you're the only one who's ever made me want to rethink that decision even a little," She said.

He smiled and leaned in to kiss her again.

"And it's not like I'm anti-sex or anything, I'm just as curious as everyone else."

"Wait," Finn said confusedly. "Excuse me if I'm out of line… but you've never had an orgasm have you?"

Rachel's face went a little red at the question. "I hardly think that's appropriate conversation Finn," she said nervously rubbing the back of her neck.

"I'm sorry but I kind of thought we were past the point of appropriate conversation."

She hesitantly looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Well I tried _doing that_ to myself once but I started to get embarrassed, I mean my stuffed animals were watching me Finn."

He just nodded, trying not to crack a smile.

"And how else am I supposed to have one if I've never had sex?" She continued.

He reached for a loose strand of hair, brushing it out of her face. "Do you trust me?"

After a moment's contemplation she simply nodded.

"Lay back," he said. "I promise I'm not going to try to have sex with you," He assured her. After a bit of hesitation she laid back and he laid down beside her, propping his head up on his elbow. And as she settled in comfortably he softly kissed her lips as he grazed the soft skin of her belly with his fingers. She ran her hands over the back of his head as he kissed her, enjoying the light touch and the feeling of his mouth on hers, so much that she immediately missed it when he moved away kissing her neck as his hands moved lower, once again breaking the barrier between her waistband and her irresistible skin.

"Can I touch you?" he whispered softly, the feeling of his breath on her ear sending a chill down her spine in the best way.

She nodded softly, and he kissed her again as he reached into her shorts, touching the silky wet heat that lied beneath them. Her breath hitched in her throat at the slightest touch of his hand.

"Is this okay?" he said as he began to slide his fingers into her.

"Mmm hmm," she said, and he kissed her again as his thumb found her clit. She moaned a little as he began to rub his thumb back and forth over it creating the sensation inside of her like slowly building a campfire. He looked at her face, at the way she squeezed her eyes shut and bit her bottom lip, and as he continued to pump his fingers in and out of her and slide his thumb over the hot, slippery nub she twisted her hands into the sheets, needing to hold on to something to keep from floating away.

"Oh god Finn!" she said, her voice coming out thick and raspy and slightly Danielesque, not to mention a little louder than he would have liked. In a panic he put his free hand over her mouth.

"It's ten O'clock, people are still awake. You have to be quiet, nobody can know about us remember?" he whispered. And she nodded and he replaced the hand over her mouth with his lips.

"I'll be quieter, just don't stop," she panted as he broke the kiss, and he didn't stop and she literally had to will herself to keep from screaming his name. He had to admit he was proud of himself, and massively turned on. She was so wet and felt so good around his fingers and the little noises she made were sexy as hell. She wasn't the only one who needed to control herself.

"I think I'm coming Finn," she whispered.

"Believe me when it happens you'll know," he assured her, still whispering. And at that she squeezed her eyes shut and her whole body convulsed and a sharp gasp escaped from her lips that he could tell would have been a lot louder had she been allowed. It happened.

"Oh yeah, it totally happened," she said, still breathing heavily.

"Yeah, me too," he said, thinking he immediately needed to change his pants. But not before kissing her again.

* * *

><p>Puck and Kurt rarely hung out outside of school and glee but they both had a similar purpose that night, operation find out what's up with Finn. He seemed normal enough in his everyday, and he and Daniel didn't seem awkward around each other anymore, but still, they knew that something was up. Puck couldn't remember the last time they played marathon Call of Duty in the student union and although Finn was much closer to his amicable pre lake house self than he had been at the library Kurt had gotten very used to him changing the subject whenever he brought up something even remotely gay. How a conversation about Elton John abruptly turned into Finn asking why they never made a sequel to Space Jam was beyond him. And the truth was he missed him, they used to be tight before he decided to suddenly start living secret life. He knew it had to be more than just his sexuality. There had to be more to it than "Finn's suddenly gay now," if only he could know what it was.<p>

"Okay we're just going to knock and see if they want to go out for a slice before curfew," Kurt said. "Just watch for any weird signs," he continued.

"Like if he's listening to a Cher CD or wearing a feather boa?" Puck said.

"Think a little subtler, just see if he seems nervous or evasive at all. I think the reason he's been acting so cool lately in spite of everything is because he's always expecting us, we need to corner him."

They approached the door and just as Kurt was about to knock, a voice sounding very much like Daniel's shouted in ecstacy from behind the door "Oh god Finn!"

"Oh no," Kurt said. "Did you hear that?"

"You don't think that was…" Puck started. "It did kind of sound like him."

At that Kurt pressed his ear to the door. He couldn't make out everything Finn was saying but it definitely ended with what sounded like somebody whispering _nobody can know about us._

"Oh my god," Kurt said under his breath.

"What? What did you hear?" Puck said.

Part of him wanted to tell the truth, the relentless gossip whore part. But the part that wanted to protect his brother couldn't bring himself to, "Nothing… I didn't hear anything."

**Kurt most certainly did hear something, will he confront Finn about it? Keep reading to find out.**


	12. Proposition Me

**This quick update comes to you courtesy of insomnia.**

Rachel wasn't looking forward to the end of glee practice that day, it wasn't just that she was thrilled about how her duet with Mercedes, whom she decided was the best singer (besides herself of course), went over that day, and it wasn't because she was particularly enjoying the way Finn was slyly eye-fucking her as he played the drums during his rendition of the catchy Weezer song he was currently singing. She didn't want glee practice to end because it was the day she decided that she was going to hit on Quinn, and the sooner practice ended the sooner she'd have to walk the plank. Finn had given her the okay to do it, deciding that she was the most likely of the single girls to shoot Daniel down. But she had never even asked out a boy before, let alone the hottest girl at McKinley West. If she could make it through this without spazzing out it would be quite a feat indeed.

_The rest of the summer was the best we ever had.__  
><em>_We watched Titanic and it didn't make us sad.__  
><em>_I took you to Best Buy, you took me home to meet your mom and dad.__  
><em>_Your mom cooked meatloaf even though I don't eat meat.__  
><em>_I dug you so much I took some for the team.__  
><em>_Your dad was silent. His eyes were fixed to what was on TV._

_Then the conversation stopped and I looked down at the ring.__  
><em>_Your folks were next to you and you were right there next to me.__  
><em>_Then I said, 'Girl! If you're wondering if I want you to, I want you to.__  
><em>_I swear it's true. Without you, my heart is blue.__  
><em>_Ooohwhoa Girl! If you're wondering if I want you to, I want you to.__  
><em>_So make a move. Cause I ain't got all night.'_

_So much pain may come our way.__  
><em>_There may come a day when we have nothing left to say._

_When the conversation stops and we're facing our defeat.__  
><em>_I'll be next to you and you'll be right there next to me.__  
><em>_Then I'll say, 'Girl! If you're wondering if I want you to, I want you to.__  
><em>_I swear it's true. Without you my heart is blue.__  
><em>_Ooohwhoa Girl, if you're wondering if I want you to, I want you to.__  
><em>_So make a move. Cause I ain't got all night._

"Alright, Awesome job Finn," Mr. Schue said, clapping along with the glee club as Finn finished his song. "Okay next week be prepared for our spotlight on the '90's. Make sure you've brushed up on your Boyz 2 Men and Smashing Pumpkins."

As the glee club started to shuffle out, Finn gave Rachel the nod. It was her last chance to make a move on Quinn.

"Um hey Quinn," Rachel said nervously as she approached the blonde. "I was just wondering if—

"Finn," Quinn said, not hearing Rachel and walking right past her to Finn. Even though Rachel wasn't the least bit interested in actually dating her she had to admit that that hurt a little.

"Um, hey," Finn said knitting his brow in confusion.

"That was a really good performance," she said sweetly. Oh my god, Rachel thought to herself. Was Quinn flirting with Finn?

"Thank you," he said, still clearly wondering what was going on.

"Listen, there's this Florence and the Machine concert coming up next weekend and I wanted to know if you would like to go with me."

Finn stratched the back of his said, wondering what the hell he would say to that. "Yeah, I think I'm going to have to pass Quinn, but thanks." He said hesitantly before making as graceful a beeline toward the door as he could.

"Oh, okay, I just thought I'd ask" She said dejectedly.

"Hey," a familiar voice said, placing a hand on Rachel's shoulders. At that she snapped out of the stupor Quinn's out of nowhere date request put her into.

"Oh what's up Brittany?" she said coolly.

"I just wanted to say that your duet was really hot, I love The Killers."

"I was singing Maroon 5," Rachel corrected.

"They're even better," she said. "So I wanted to know if you ever wanted to hang out sometime."

"Um, I don't know Brittany," she said hesitantly. "I mean you're really cute and everything, but to tell you the truth I kind of have a thing for someone else," Rachel said.

"Oh, Finn?" Brittany said.

"No, what gives you that idea?"

She shrugged her shoulders.

"No, I'm sort of into Quinn actually," Rachel said.

"Okay, in case you change your mind here's my number," she said.

"It just has a 17 on it," Rachel said studying the slip of paper.

"Well, I lost the other 5 but you can ask Santana if you have any trouble," with that Brittany winked and headed out the door. This was officially the weirdest glee practice yet.

* * *

><p>There was only so much Puck could take of this, he could deal with Finn being a ghost after school, and getting an ill-timed boner in the gym and even the lake house thing, but turning down Quinn after months of mooning over her was just too much.<p>

"Dude, what the hell is going on with you?" Puck said, catching up to Finn.

"What are you talking about?"

"You seriously just turned down Quinn Fabray, who does that?"

"I don't want to see Florence and The Machine with Quinn okay? It's chick music."

"Could you maybe stop lying to me for ten seconds?" Puck said. "You're not any good at it."

"I don't know, can you mind your own business for once?"

"I'm just saying you spend all of this time crying over Quinn only to turn her down?"

"Yeah, do you not remember that she cheated on me or does everyone at this school have the attention span of a shrub?"

"That's not what this is about and you know it," Puck said. "This is about that Daniel kid."

Finn sighed deeply. He thought that he was past this. "There is nothing going on with Daniel okay? Would you drop it?"

"Okay, than who were you getting it on with in your dorm room the other night?"

Finn's blood ran cold, how the hell was he going to get out of this one?

"Megan O'Dowd,"

Finn snapped his head toward Kurt, unaware that he had been listening.

"What?" Puck said.

"I saw her leaving his room that night, how you even pulled that off I'll never know. This place is like Fort Knox as far as girls are concerned," Kurt said.

"Dude really?" Puck said.

"Uh, yeah," Finn said, going with it "She's the one I went out with that night. I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to…"

"You didn't want to risk the glee club's high morale, most of the girls in glee hate her" Kurt said, finishing for him. He wasn't sure what Kurt knew, but god did he owe him one.

"You know now that I think about it, the voice did sound a little girly, good job buddy," Puck said. "You picked a hot one. And maybe now you can get us into one of those parties," he really did have the attention span of a shrub.

"Yeah, I'll see what I can do," Finn said, nervously walking away, but not fast enough to keep Kurt from catching up to him.

"Finn, I know," Kurt said. "I know what's going on with you and Daniel."

"Look Kurt I…"

"It's okay Finn, I'm not going to tell anyone and I'm not going to push you to talk about it, when you're ready I'm here for you." Kurt said, clapping him on the back.

* * *

><p>"So," Blaine said, catching up to Rachel as she headed toward her room. "I saw Brittany asking you out."<p>

"Oh, yeah I guess I'm kind of a stud after all," she said, sounding natural in spite of her inward terror.

"I also saw you turn her down."

"Yeah, Brittany's hot as hell and everything, but she's not really my type."

Blaine chuckled. "You're so cute."

"Um thanks?" Rachel said.

"Look I understand if you have your sights set on Finn, trust me I've been there, I just want you to know that there are other options." Blaine said, his hand on her shoulder.

"Blaine, I'm not sure what you've heard but I'm not gay. I know that the theatre thing tends to throw people off."

"Oh," Blaine said. "Look I'm sorry I didn't mean anything by it, it's just, Brittany's one of the hottest girls in school, even I've thought about asking her out. I just thought there had to be a reason for the shoot-down. And that kiss at the lake house…"

"I was just a little tipsy that night," Rachel said, "Most of us were."

"Okay, I'm sorry, I happen to be a little bit bi when I'm drunk too so I understand completely," Blaine said.

"Good, I'm glad that you're being cool about this, not everybody is," Rachel said.

"Still, I'd really consider going with Brit, she's not the brightest but she's super sweet. She gave me a bunny for my birthday, she named him Blaine Jr."

"Okay that _is_ kind of adorable," Rachel admitted.

"I'm just sayin'" Blaine said before departing.

Rachel had never been more conflicted in her life, maybe it would have been better to pretend to be gay, she would still be a boy after all, but deceiving Blaine would be just as bad as deceiving Brittany, and it would only give people more reasons to suspect that Finn was something he wasn't. Who would have thought that she would have made such a huge mess of things?

"I think I have to go out with Megan O'Dowd," Finn said upon meeting Rachel in the room. To which Rachel responded.

"I think _I _have to go out with Brittany."

**They just keep digging themselves deeper, how are they going to last the month at this rate? As always, keep reading. Song is I Want You To by Weezer, a song I desperately want Finn to sing on the actual show.**


	13. Beards

Finn and Rachel sat next to each other on her bed, contemplating what their next move was.

"What are we going to do?" Finn said. "I don't want to date Megan, she gets botox and she's like 17. She says it's preventative, I mean, who does that?"

"And I don't want to date Brittany, I'm not ready for my wild lesbian phase yet," she looked at Finn with wide eyes. "Finn, I think it's time."

"Time for what?" Finn said.

"It's time for me to tell the truth."

"What? No." Finn said.

"I can't keep this up anymore, I can't keep destroying your reputation and I can't use Brittany like this."

"Rachel you can't," Finn said.

"Why? It would solve everything."

"But what about Yentl? I don't think you're ready yet, you were really flat the last time we ran lines."

"Oh please Finn, I was brilliant."

"I know," he admitted sheepishly. "But still, I mean you can never be too prepared right?"

"I don't get it, I thought you wanted me to tell the truth," Rachel said.

"Yeah but that was before…" Finn said.

"Before what?" At that Finn simply looked away, not wanting her to see the sad look in his eyes. "Finn, why don't you want me to tell them the truth?" She said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Because," He said, letting out a soft sigh. "If you tell them the truth then you're going to have to leave."

She looked at him, speechless, "Well, you know Manhattan isn't that far away," she finally said, taking his hand.

"I know, it's just, it's not going to be the same, not being able to see you every day," he said sadly. "I mean it's bad enough that you have to go away in less than a month."

She cupped his face and kissed him tenderly, "I'm going to miss you so much too Finn."

"Look, will it kill us to go on one date? I mean, we don't have to do anything we don't want to," Finn said "It'll get everybody off our backs and we can stay together."

"I don't know, Puck and Sam told me about Megan, I'm not sure if you want to risk going out with a girl with that level of promiscuity, what if she tries to have her way with you?"

Finn leaned in to kiss her again. "I promise you I won't let anything happen."

"And I won't let anything happen with Brittany."

"Well if you did I would totally understand, I mean you have to commit to your craft right?" Finn joked. She nudged him playfully and kissed him once again.

"Okay time to scare up those five other numbers and give Brit a call," Rachel said.

"And I'll go get Megan's number off the bathroom wall," Finn said, not entirely joking.

* * *

><p>As Rachel lightly gelled her fake hair in the communal bathroom mirror, she wondered if she looked a little too good. She didn't want to give Brittany any reason to want to take things further. She decisively mussed it a little at the thought, realizing that it just made her look rugged.<p>

"How am I going to do this?" Rachel said quietly to herself.

"Do what?"

She spun her head around at the sound of Kurt's voice as he exited the toilet stall.

"Oh, nothing," Rachel said. "So what are you up to tonight?"

"Not much, me and Blaine are going to see a movie."

"I don't get it dude, why don't you just get on that already?"

"Cut the crap Daniel," Kurt said shortly.

"Dude, what is your deal?" Rachel said, a little scared on the inside but managing to keep her cool.

"I know what's going on with you and my brother," He said, inching toward her. "You need to back off."

"Kurt nothing is going on with me and Finn," Rachel lied.

"What is it about you anyway? Blaine couldn't turn Finn and he's way more charming."

"You don't know anything about me," she said.

"I know that what you're doing isn't right. Finn's going through a confusing time and you're only making it worse."

"I'm not doing anything, and what kind of hypocritical bullshit are you spouting anyway? Even if Finn were gay you think you would be more understanding."

"I do understand. I understand that Finn is a lot more fragile than he seems. I've been dealing with bullies and bigots my whole life but Finn, he's not ready for the shitstorm that's about to hit. Now if he's gay, fine, but if he isn't then he doesn't need to risk getting his ass kicked on the daily for no reason," Kurt said. "Have you seen the guys he plays football with? Finn may be able to hold his own against one homophobic barbarian, but a whole team of them who happen to change in front of him three days a week?"

"Look I promise you that nothing is going on with me and Finn," Rachel assured him. "We both have dates tonight, and it's not with each other."

"I've heard of beards before Daniel," Kurt said, rolling his eyes.

"God what do you want from me Kurt!" she snapped.

"I want you to stay away from Finn, until he figures this thing out," Kurt said.

"What is your problem with me," she said. "I know it's not just my supposed relationship with Finn."

"I don't trust you," Kurt said. "You're hiding something, I know it."

"Even if I was, what business is it of yours?"

"I'm trying to protect Finn."

"He doesn't need you to protect him," Rachel said. "He's a big boy, now if you'll excuse me I'm off to have a good, heterosexual time," she continued before stalking away, thinking Kurt didn't know just how right he was.

* * *

><p>Going out with Megan O'Dowd was a terrible, terrible idea.<p>

"I'm really glad you asked me out Finn," Megan said, twirling her bottle blonde hair with a long French-tipped finger. "I've always thought you were super gorge."

"You think I'm a canyon?" Finn said confusedly.

Megan got up from her side of the booth and began sauntering over to him. "So," she said, sitting next to him and draping her arm over his shoulder. "What kind of fun are we going to have tonight?" she continued seductively.

He began to recoil a little at her forwardness. "I think this place has Tetris," he said uncomfortably.

"God, you're so cute," she said. "I could just rape you right here and now."

"I think that's illegal," he said, scooting away a bit.

"Oh lighten up, it's a joke," she said. This was most definitely a mistake, this girl made Santana look like a nun, an old nun.

"So, did you want to like, order or something?" Finn said, nervously looking at his menu.

"Well I happen to have my eye on a hot beefcake," she said cheesily, reaching for a very private area. Finn's entire body jerked at the touch.

"Do you think you can maybe keep your hands to yourself," he said frantically.

"You know, if you're trying to turn me on it's so working," She said throwing her body at him and crushing his lips with hers.

"Okay, that's it, date over," Finn said quickly breaking the kiss and scrambling up. It had literally been fifteen minutes.

"Finn what the hell is your problem?" she said.

"Look even if you weren't totally creepy and insane I wouldn't be able to go through with this,"

"Why? I'm hot as hell," she said.

"And I'm in love with someone else!" he blurted, thinking he completely botched the whole date thing.

* * *

><p>After much debating, Rachel decided to take Brittany to a community theater production of Cats, it was the least sexually threatening date she could think of, Brittany was too delighted by the play to interact much with Rachel except for one point when she asked her if they were real cats. She still had to worry about the walk home though.<p>

"That was so much fun," Brittany said as she and Rachel walked hand in hand back to McKinley west. Rachel figured that holding hands was innocent enough. "Lord Tubbington would have loved it."

"I'm glad you had a good time Brit," Rachel said.

"Thank you for the T-shirt, I'm going to wear with a ballgown skirt like Carrie Bradshaw."

"That could be cute," Rachel said.

"So, Are we going to make out now, because I'm almost home and usually at this point I've already gone to second and a half base."

Rachel stopped dead in her tracks, she had a feeling that it was coming, but she desperately hoped that it wouldn't.

"Look Brittany, I think you're really great, but…

"You like someone else," Brittany said as a statement rather than a question.

"No, it's more than that. I'm in love with them," Rachel said, avoiding using a gender specific pronoun.

"You're in love with more than one person?" Brittany said judgmentally.

"No," Rachel said. "Just one."

* * *

><p>Rachel decided that the date went okay, Brittany was cool about the whole thing, and Rachel came away from it thinking that Brit would make a perfectly great female friend. Still, she couldn't help but think about what Finn had said to her earlier, she would have to leave soon, she wouldn't see Finn, Brittany, Blaine or any of them for quite some time, and the thought almost brought tears to her eyes. It was 11 O'clock, usually everyone had retired to their rooms at that time of night, which made it the perfect time for a guy with secret lady bits to take a nice hot, shower. She pulled off her wig and scratched her scalp, the moment she decided was her favorite non-making out with Finn moment on any given day at McKinley prep.<p>

_And I can't fight this feeling anymore_

_I've forgotten what I've started fighting for._

She would know that voice anywhere, and as she heard it wafting from the stall a smile reached her lips.

"How was your date?" Rachel said, pulling back the curtain and catching Finn in all of his naked glory.

"Rachel!" Finn said after getting over the shock of her pulling back the curtain on him. "God am I glad to see you, he continued, leaning out of the shower and pressing his wet lips to hers. "Tonight was a nightmare."

Rachel smiled and began to remove her clothes, holding eye contact with Finn the entire time and putting a goofy smile on his face. After getting fully naked she climbed in with him, putting her arms around his waist and laying her head on his chest.

"What's wrong Rach?" he said hugging her tiny, naked body and stroking her wet hair.

"Nothing," She said looking into his eyes again. "I just wish it didn't have to end."

**I hope I didn't make the character of Megan too cartoonishly aggressive, I try to avoid writing OCs because I can't develop them as well, but I hope that at least made for a funny scene. And I actually do have a friend who went out with a girl who said that she was going to rape him. He wrote a pretty funny comedy bit about it.**


	14. Rumble

**Good news everyone. I'm probably going to finish this story before the day is out since I have absolutely nothing to do for the rest of the day and my weekend is slammed.**

Finn pried his eyes open in the early morning as his alarm clock sounded, another school day, he thought as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Hey Rachel," he whispered into the sleeping girls ear. "Time to get up."

"Five more minutes," she said sleepily, snuggling up against him. Back in Manhattan she'd have no problem waking up in the wee hours to start a new day, but that was before she stayed up late fooling around with her hot roommate, now all she wanted was a few more precious moments in his arms.

He didn't protest, he just smiled slyly and began to gradually move his hand up underneath her pajama top until it landed on the small curve of her naked breast.

"Are you enjoying yourself," she said amusedly as he began to rub his thumb back and forth over her nipple, making it stand up like a pencil eraser.

"Totally," he said kissing her neck and shoulders and continuing to fondle her. She turned her head around to meet his lips with hers.

"This is nice," she whispered resting her forehead against his and letting him circle his arms around her.

"Yeah," he agreed. "What are the chances of us both catching a 24 hour stomach flu at the last minute?"

She giggled and kissed him again, softly caressing his mouth with hers and sucking at his bottom lip a little and gliding her fingers through his messy bedhead "Alright," she sighed, coming up for air, "time to get up."

"Come on, that was nowhere near five minutes."

If Rachel had known that that would be her last day at McKinley she definitely would have agreed to play hooky.

* * *

><p>It was the last period of the afternoon, and although school only lasted six hours it felt like twice that. Rachel was always a fantastic student, giving her all in everything that she did. But going to McKinley prep was the only time she had to actively will herself to pay attention. Every time her mind wandered even a little it invariably ended up on Finn, and once she started thinking of him it was almost impossible to stop.<p>

"Mr. Berry?" Mr. Loomis said.

"Huh?" Rachel answered.

"What is the first line of Duke Orsino's opening speech?"

"Oh um, 'If music be the food of love, play on,'" She said.

"Very good," he said. "Mr. Evans…"

"Mr. Loomis, can I have a bathroom pass?" Rachel interrupted, throwing her hand in the air.

"Hurry back," Loomis said, holding up a pass for her.

"Thanks," she said, taking it and heading out of the room.

She didn't plan to be gone long, her next turn probably wouldn't be for a few minutes and she had read that play enough times to lose count, she just needed a moment to compose herself. It wasn't normal to think about one person this much. After taking a few deep breaths and getting ready to return to class she heard a very troubled, very familiar voice. She knew she shouldn't have paid it any mind, that she should have stayed out of his business, but she couldn't help herself.

"Just let me get back to class," Kurt said forcefully as the tall, menacing boy towering over him stared daggers at the smaller boy. Rachel wasn't too familiar with Dave Karofsky, she knew he played football with Finn and that he had a tendency to throw slushies at people, but aside from that she'd largely avoided any contact with him.

"If I let you go what are you going to do for me?" Dave said creepily.

"I assure you I have nothing you want."

"That watch looks nice, and my mom's birthday is coming up soon, I think she'd appreciate it." Dave said.

"I'm not giving you my watch, now if you don't back off I'll…

"You'll what?" Dave said, cutting him off and pushing him against the wall.

Without knowing exactly what came over her Rachel's mouth spoke before her mind had a chance to. "Hey!" she yelled forcefully. "Leave him alone."

"Oh who's this, your boyfriend?" Dave chuckled, meeting Rachel's eyes.

"I said, leave him alone!" She repeated.

"Daniel what are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Kurt said.

"I just happen to have a certificate from the theatre school in advanced fight choreography, I may be small but I'll mess you up Karofsky," Rachel said, standing her ground, sure it was stupid, but she knew as much of a brute as he was he would never hit a gi—

But she wasn't a girl, and that fact was never more apparent than when Karofsky's fist hit her face like a bullet.

"Hey!" Kurt yelled, grabbing Karofsky, only to be thrown off of him as if he were brushing dust off of his shoulders.

Surprisingly she hadn't been knocked down, but the punch brought stinging tears to her eyes.

"Now do you want to try minding your own fucking business?" Karofsky fumed.

She held her face, still crying and looked up at him with wide eyes.

"You hit like a bitch Karofsky," she said, her heart pounding furiously in her chest.

And with that she knew that she was dead.

"Somebody help!" Kurt yelled as Karofsky landed another punch to her face and another to her ribs, finally sending her to the floor.

She was alive, but she wasn't sure if anything had ever hurt so much. She didn't know what had come over her, maybe seeing Kurt victimized that way reminded her of herself, maybe being Daniel had a weird affect on her psyche, either way she had just gotten wailed on, and quite thoroughly at that.

"Are you crying, bitch boy?" Karofsky said hovering over her like a ghost. "I think bitch boy is cry—

"Get the fuck off!" Finn roared tearing the bully away from his girl. She was in so much pain that she hadn't even noticed that there were other people in the halls now, including Finn, who had just provided Karofsky with a powerful blow to the face in her honor.

"Get the fuck out of here Karofsky or I'm going to tell everyone you keep a beanie baby in your locker," Finn said before Dave could collect himself and get any retaliatory hits in. That did it, Karofsky backed off, but the damage was done.

As Finn saw her lying there, bruised and crying, he couldn't give one bit of a damn who was watching, he ignored Mr. Schue trying to direct him and Dave to the principal's office and kneeled down beside her, his eyes wide with concern.

"Oh no, oh god," he said with desperation in his voice.

She looked up at him, her eyes moist and her lip quivering.

"I was just trying to help Kurt I didn't…" she trailed off, squeezing her eyes shut and beginning to sob bitterly.

"I know. I know you were, and you did so good, I'm so proud of you."

"Is he going to be alright?" Kurt said, his eyes wide with concern.

"I think so," Finn said. "Oh my god, look at your face," he continued, glancing back to Rachel. He gently placed his hand over her bruised cheekbone and she placed one hand over his and the other on his cheek, and he lightly kissed her palm, no longer caring that pretty much everyone watching still thoroughly believed that she was a boy. "It's alright now, you're going to be alright okay baby?"

She nodded, tears still flooding her eyes and her breath catching in her throat. "Thank you Finn," she said in her normal voice, too overcome with pain and emotion to bother masking it anymore.

"This shouldn't have happened to you, I should have protected you. I'm so sorry Rachel"

"No, Finn," she said reassuringly, "shh, don't say that." And then she kissed him, in front of everyone, and he didn't shy away from it, he held her close and kissed her right back, wanting desperately to comfort the small, broken girl.

"Dude, what the hell," Puck said as he kissed her.

"Finn, is there something you want to tell us?" Blaine added.

He pulled away from her and met the eyes of his friends, and then looked back into the eyes of his sweetheart. "Yeah," he said, just loud enough for them to hear. "I'm in love with her."

"And who is her?" Blaine said.

Rachel looked up at them, after the fight she knew that there was no way her fathers would let her stay, she might as well tell the truth. At that she reached up to pull the short wig off letting her long hair fall around her shoulders.

"I am," she finally said.

"So you're a…" Puck started.

"Yes," Rachel said.

"And you knew…" Blaine said.

"Yes," Finn said.

"Well, that explains a lot," Kurt said. "It also raises further questions of course."

"Can you get up?" Finn said softly.

"Yeah, I think so," she said, putting her hands on his shoulders and allowing him to help her up. She buried her face into his chest as they stood and he held her close, stroking her hair gently.

"Finn, Daniel, just what exactly is going on here?" Mr. Schue said.

"My name's not Daniel Mr. Schue… it's Rachel," she said, holding onto Finn for dear life. "Can I call my dads now?"

**And the cats out of the bag, but at least Daniel died a hero. How will the McKinley students react now that everything's out in the open? One Chapter plus an epilogue to go.**


	15. Leaving McKinley

Kurt and Blaine watched from a slight distance as Finn and Rachel sat hand in hand in the administration building parking lot, waiting for her dads.

"Did you have any idea that she was a girl?" Blaine said.

"No, I mean I knew that it was something, but not this," Kurt admitted. "Say what you will about her she's going to make a fabulous Yentl."

"I can't believe Finn knew this whole time and he never said anything, who knew that he could keep a secret."

"I know, it's insane, I knew I should have done more digging."

"You did plenty," Blaine said. "So, what do you think about Finn dating her?"

"Well, she did kind of come to my rescue, and I bet she could get us free theatre tickets so, I have to say I'm for it."

Finn held Rachel's small hand in his as they waited for her dads to arrive. She kept glancing at her watch, wishing that time would move more slowly. Manhattan was less than an hour away in traffic so she knew that they would be there any minute.

"Did you mean what you said before?" Rachel finally said, looking up at Finn with wide eyes. "Do you love me?"

He nodded, and turned up one corner of his mouth, "Yeah," he said. "You don't have to say it back or anyth—"

"I love you too," she said, cutting him off. And he leaned in to kiss her and graze her cheek softly with his knuckles.

"Ow," she said quietly, recoiling a little at his touch.

"Sorry," he said.

"It's okay."

"You know most _guys_ can't take a punch from Dave Karosfsky," Finn said. "You're kind of a badass you know that?"

She smiled at him and laid her head on his shoulder, "I am aren't I?"

"How mad were your dads when you talked to them?"

She shrugged. "They were more angry at themselves than anything, but I assured them that I wouldn't trade the month I spent here for anything."

"Me neither," he said. "So, what happens now?"

"Well I'm going home tonight," she said. "But I thoroughly expect your presence at the premiere of my play in June."

"Nothing will be able to keep me away," he assured her.

Rachel's heart sank as her dads car pulled up to the front parking lot. "I have to go Finn."

"Not before we get to say goodbye you don't," Kurt said along with the rest of the glee boys walking out into the parking lot.

Rachel smiled so wide that the brownish-red bruise on her cheekbone ached a little. "I'm so sorry for lying to you guys," Rachel said.

"And I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you," Kurt said.

"And I'm sorry for the time I made you look at that penthouse magazine in science lab, I didn't realize," Puck said.

"And I'm sorry for—

"Look let's just assume we're all sorry," Rachel said cutting off Artie. "Now give me a hug, all of you." And they all gathered to embrace her.

"Bye guys," she said.

"Oh and Finn, good job buddy, don't tell anyone this but the first thing I thought when I saw Daniel here was that he'd make a good-looking chick," Puck said, giving Rachel a friendly shove.

"Okay, I really do have to go," she said, chuckling at Puck's "compliment."

Finn wasn't sure if he should kiss her one more time with her dads in the parking lot, but he knew that if he didn't he wouldn't get his chance again for awhile, so he did.

"Okay I have to admit that still freaks me out a bit," Sam said watching them kiss.

"You're such a homophobe," Kurt joked.

Finn pulled his lips away from hers, not wanting to let her go, "This isn't goodbye," he said looking deep into her eyes.

"Rachel honey, it's time to go," Leroy said from his car window.

"Okay," Rachel said, reluctantly breaking the embrace. "I have to go Finn, but you're right, this isn't goodbye."

And with that, she was gone.

**That Summer**

"I can't believe this," Kurt said excitedly as he and Finn shuffled toward their seats, "I wonder if she'll give you a shoutout during the curtain call."

"Nah, she's a pro," Finn said.

"So what are you going to do when you see her?" Kurt said.

"I don't know," Finn admitted. "I mean her dads still aren't thrilled about us dating, we're just trying to take it one step at a time."

They took their seats in the audience, programs in hand and waited the ten agonizing minutes for the show to start. Finally the Curtain raised and for the first time in almost two months, Finn saw Rachel's face.

* * *

><p>He couldn't believe how amazing she was, he knew that she was talented but he had no idea how big her talent actually was. She completely blew him away, even Kurt couldn't help but shed a tear as she bowed for the audience. And to think the night before Finn had to practically talk her off a ledge over the phone she was so nervous.<p>

"She was fantastic," Kurt said as he and Finn exited the theatre, keeping their eyes open for Rachel.

"I know, my girlfriend is like an actual superstar."

"Don't you mean boyfriend?" Kurt said teasingly.

"I swear to god that gets funnier every time you say it," Finn joked. "And speaking of boyfriend how are things with you and Blaine?"

"Blaine is not my boyfriend, we've been on like two dates."

"Okay you've been into him forever and now that you're finally dating you choose to be casual about it?" Finn said.

"I'm not trying to get tied down Finn, I'm too young and independent," He said coolly.

"Whatever Mr. Hummel-Anderson," Finn said, seeing through him.

"I will have you know that the name will be Anderson-Hummel," Kurt said. "Not that I've thought about it or anything."

Finn simply smiled and rolled his eyes. "God, where it she anyway?" He said anxiously

"Would you relax? She's coming."

"Yeah, but it's been like… two and a half minutes," he said checking his watch. "Okay, maybe I am stressing a bit."

"She's probably just getting swarmed for autographs and interviews, she was amazing Finn. You should be so proud of her."

"I am," he said simply.

"Oh, and what about Jesse St. James? He was great too."

"I don't know, there was something about him I didn't like," Finn said.

"Finn Hudson?" said a familiar voice.

"Mr. Berry, Hey," Finn said, shaking Hiram's hand.

"So glad you could make the show," Leroy said with a bit of thinly-veiled hostility in his tone.

"Your daughter was awesome, seriously," Finn said. "Kurt cried."

"So did you," Kurt said.

"Shut up," Finn said under his breath.

"So Finn, Kurt are you going to be accompanying us to dinner tonight?" Hiram said, causing Leroy to shoot him a look and elbow him subtly. "Oh come on they came all the way down here."

"I'd love to, if you'll have us," Finn said respectfully.

"Yes," Leroy said, reluctantly. "We'd love to have you."

"Finn!"

Finn turned around and there she was, still dressed in her Anshel costume but no longer wearing the short wig. The smile in her eyes at the sight of him was enough to make his heart leap out of his chest.

"Rachel," Finn said as he walked up to her tentatively. "You were so... you were really… good," he said stupidly. "Oh, these are for you," he said, nervously handing her a bouquet of lilies to add to the three that she was already holding.

"You came," she said simply.

"Of course I came," Finn said. "I wouldn't have missed it for anything, unless I was like, hit by a bus or something."

Rachel couldn't contain it anymore, without another word she stood on her toes and caught his lips in a searing kiss, rustling the cellophane wrapped around her four bouquets.

After a few moments Leroy cleared his throat, snapping them out of their amorous trance. She pulled her lips from his and looked over his shoulder at her dads, blushing sheepishly.

"Come on Finn," she said turning her attention back to Finn and taking his hand to join her fathers.

**All is well, Finn and Rachel are still together, Rachel is an off-Broadway superstar, Kurt and Blaine are dating (sort of), what else could possibly lie in store for them? Stay tuned for the epilogue to find out.**


	16. Epilogue

**And the Epilogue, I must admit I'm a little sad :(**

It was only the first day of school, but Finn could tell that that year was going to be brutal. It seemed like everyone was paired up. Mike and Tina were still going strong, Puck and Quinn started dating over the summer, as did Sam and Mercedes, Artie and Brittany made up, and even Santana had that girl from the McKinley West golf team. Finn wished that Rachel were there, that he could see his girlfriend in glee or after school like everyone else. He wasn't even safe during school hours with only the boys now that Kurt and Blaine were officially Kurt and Blaine. It seemed like love was all around and his love was in Manhattan, reachable only by phone, computer or the occasional weekend train ride, if only he had a car. He couldn't wait until next year when Rachel went to Julliard and he started at the fire academy. After much debating he decided that a singing fireman was a better fit than a singing cop, it was almost a split decision but in the end he realized that he couldn't grow a mustache, so he chose fireman. Rachel supported his decision and couldn't wait for him to join her in the city, but the wait wasn't going to be easy.

"Hey Finn, we saved you a seat," Kurt said, patting the chair next to him.

"Thanks Kurt," Finn said, accepting it.

"Hey guys," Mr. Schue said excitedly as he shuffled in. "Welcome to senior year, I hope you had a great summer."

After a few assorted responses from the glee club Mr. Schue continued.

"Before I get started I wanted to introduce you to our newest member, now she may look a little familiar but… you know, I think I should just bring her in."

Finn knitted his brow, it couldn't be… could it?

"Everyone, I would like you to meet Rachel Berry," Mr. Schue said.

"Rachel?" Finn said as she entered the room, nearly knocking him off of his chair with sheer surprise. He slowly stood up, as if she were a stray cat and if he moved too fast she would scamper away, never to be seen again. "What are you doing here?"

"This is where I go to school," she said matter of factly. "Well, technically I go to McKinley west. It took some serious pleading but my fathers decided that aside from the unfortunate business with Karofsky McKinley prep truly was a worthwhile experience for me."

"But how?" He said. "I talked to you on the phone every day this summer, you never said anything."

"Well it was supposed to be a surprise," she said coyly.

"I'm definitely surprised," Finn said, still taken aback.

"Is it a good surprise?" she said.

"Are you kidding, this is the best surprise ever," he said, taking her into his arms and hugging her close, a mile-wide smile on his face. "But, what about Broadway? What about your career?"

"Broadway will still be there next year, Finn" Rachel said. "Besides, I just finished a 20 show starring run on the off-Broadway stage, I'd say I'm way ahead of the curve don't you think?"

"So you're really a student here now?" Kurt said, "You're not just preparing for a part as a schoolgirl are you."

"Nope, I'm 100 percent legit," Rachel said.

"This is amazing," Kurt said, getting up to hug her.

"Berry's officially one of us now," Puck added.

"We all have to go out for pizza after this to celebrate," Blaine chimed in.

"That girl looks like Daniel," Brittany said confusedly.

"Okay guys, we can all trade sentiments after practice," Mr. Schue said. "Let's get to it!"

Rachel sat down next to Finn not letting go of his hand for anything. Finn was wrong, this year was going to be the best one ever.

**The End**

**Aww, Finn can't grow a mustache. I could totally see something like that being the deciding factor in his eventual career decision. Anywho, thanks so much for reading guys, this has been a blast.**


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